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MODERN 

American School Buildings. 



BEING 



A TREATISE UPON, AND DESIGNS 

FOR, THE CONSTRUCTION OF 

SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



BY 

WARREN RICHARD BRIGGS, F.A.I.A. 



Mttb Q<5 fuUspage irilustratioitB. 



FIRST EDITION. 
FIRST THOUSAND. 



NEW YORK: 
JOHN WILEY & SONS. 
London : CHAPMAN & HALL, Limited. 
1899. 



tCCONH '^•'^. 






42158 



Copyright, 1899, 

BY 

WARREN R. BRIGGS. 

DECEIVED. 



TW 



O CO 



piES 




iV 



^V / 



^«ft!POf(^i£^ 



HOBERT DRUMMOND, PRINTER, NEW YORK. 






/ 



i ^7 



//3 



AS A SLIGHT TRIBUTE TO MY WIFE, 

X(33ie :©eacb Srlggs, 

AT ALL TIMES A LOVING HELPMATE, 

THOUGHTFUL ADVISER, AND 

CLEVER AMANUENSIS, 

THIS WORK 
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. 



/ 



PREFACE. 



The preparation of this work has been fragmentary in the 
extreme; the several subjects have been treated at intervals, 
usually wide apart, extending over a period of twenty years; 
they have, as a rule, been taken up at moments when the 
machinery of the ofhce was practically at a standstill, or 
when some special problem or incident had brought forcibly 
to my mind the need of radical reforms. 

The first twelve chapters are here presented for the first 
time; Chapters XIII and XIV were papers prepared for State 
Board of Health reports. Chapter XV is composed of the 
series of papers originally written for ArcJiitecture and Build- 
ing ; and the last chapter has recently been compiled to com- 
plete this series. The illustrations and designs, with some 
minor exceptions, are entirely new. Their collection and 
arrangement in book form was suggested by the constant 
demand for those that had been published, which could not 
be supplied. 

The State Board of Health reports were limited editions, 
long since exhausted; and, while there are undoubtedly many 
volumes of Architecture mid Building containing that series 
of articles in existence, they are, as a rule, to be found only 
in the libraries of architects and are not accessible either to 



VI PREFA CE. 

the public or those who may be especially interested in school 
buildings. Under these conditions it was deemed advisable 
to edit in book form not only those that had already 
appeared, but such other matter as might be pertinent to the 
subject, with a hope that the interest taken in the original 
articles may be intensified and increased. 

If the perusal of the pages of this book will tend to im- 
prove this most important branch of American architecture 
and result ultimately in better buildings for our children to 
pursue their studies in, my efforts in their behalf will not have 
been in vain. 

Bridgeport, Conn., 1899. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER 



PAGE 



I. In General • 7 

II. Appropriations 21 

III. Competitions 33 

IV. Specialists 49 

V. Commission* 63 

VI. Superintendence. Ethics 75 

VII. Ready-made Plans 91 

VIII. Entrance-Halls and Staircases 107 

IX. Windows and Lighting 119 

X. Hat-and-Cloak-Rooms — Playrooms 139 

XI. Heating and Ventilation 155 

XII. Sanitary Arrangements 177 

XIII. Hygienic Construction of the Bridgeport High School 

Building .;^ 195 

XIV. Suburban Schoolhouses 223 

XV. Planning and Construction of Schoolhouses 263 

XVI. City School Buildings on Restricted Sites 399 

vii 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PLATE PAGE 

1. Perspective of Twenty-Room Grammar-School Building i 

2. Plans " " " " 3 

3- " " " " " 5 

4. Perspective of Competitive Design for High-School Building at P. 15 

5. Plans " " " " " " " ". 17 

6. " " " " " " " " ". 19 

7. Perspective of Centre School Building, Danbury, Conn 29 

8. Plans " " " " " " 31 

g. Perspective of Orphan Asylum, Bridgeport, Conn 43 

10. Plans " " " " " 45 

II- " " " " " " 47 

12. Perspective of Lincoln School Building, Bridgeport, Conn 57 

13. Plans " " " " " " 59 

14. " " " " " " " • 6r 

15. Perspective of Small High School Building 71 

16. Plans " " " " " 73 

17. Perspective of Six-Room Building 85 

18. Plans " " " 87 

19. 

20. Perspective of Eight-Room ' 

21. Plans " " ' 

22. " " " ' 



lOI 

103 

105 

23. Sketches of Entrance-Halls iii 

24. Perspective of Four-Room Building with Hall 117 

25. Plans " " " " " 123 

26. " " " " " " 125 

27. Sketches showing arrangement of Windows, etc 127 

28. " " Iron Mullions, etc 131 

29. Perspective of Three-Room Building in Brick , 135 

30. Plans " " " " " 137 

31. Sketches of Hat-and-Cloak-Rooms 143 



ILL US TEA TIONS. 



PLATE PACK 

32. Perspective of St. Mary's School Building, Derby Conn 14^ 

33. Plans " " " " " " " 151 

34- " ' " " '; " 153 

35.' Perspective of medium-size High-School Building 171 

36. Plans " " " " 173 

37- " " " " " 175 

38. Outbuildings with Windmills 181 

39. Elevations of Original Bridgeport High School Building 187 

40. Plans " " " " " " 189 

41. Perspective of Remodelled Bridgeport High School Building igi 

4J. Plans " " " " " " 193 

43. Sketches of Water-Closets, Ventilation, etc 203 

44. Perspective of One-Room Building 219 

45. Plans " " " 221 

46. Perspective of Two-Room Building 229 

47. Plans " " " 231 

48. Sketches showing Construction 237 

49. Perspective of One-Room Building in Wood 259 

50. Plans " " " " " 261 

51. Perspective " " " " Stone 267 

52. Plans " " " " " 269 

53. Perspective of Two-Room Building in Wood 275 

54. Plans " " " " " 277 

55. Perspective " " " " Stone 2S3 

56. Plans " " " " " 285 

57. Perspective of Three-Room Building in Wood 289 

58. Plans " " " " " 291 

59. Perspective of Four-Room Building in Brick 299 

60. Plans " " " " " 301 

61. " " " " " " 303 

62. Perspective of Eight-Room " " " 311 

63. Plans " " " " " 513 

64. " " " " " " 315 

65. Perspective of Twelve-Room " " " 321 

66. Plans " " " " " 323 

67. " " " " " " 325 

68. Perspecti e of Twelve-Room Building with Hall 329 



69. Plans " " 

70. Perspective of Sixteen-Room 

71. Plans " 

72. Perspective of Seventeen-Room 

73. Plans " " 
74. 

75. Perspective of Twenty-four-Room Building 359 

76. Plans " " " " 361 

77. " " " " " 363 



331 
341 
343 
349 
351 
353 



ILL US TRA TIONS. XI 

PLATE PAGE 

78. Perspective of Large High-School Building 369 

79. Plans " " " " 371 

80. " " " " " 373 

81. Perspective of State Normal-School " 379 

82. Plans " " " " 3S1 

83. Sketches of Heating and Ventilating Apparatus 3S7 

84. Perspective of City School Building on loo-ft. Lot 393 

85. Plans " " " " " " " 395 

86. " " " " " " " " 397 

87. Perspective of City School Building 150-ft. Lot 405 

88. Plans " " " " " " 407 

89. " " •* " " " " 409 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 




MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 




PlR&T'STORa: Pl-AI-t 



TWE/>lTYlK0O/v\CllAMMAa.iCH00L BUILDIAJO. 
WITH HALL. 






!■ ■ ■ I ■ ■ ■'''i ll ■ n 




BAiifcri^ErtT PuArt 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 




^■pEconp Story Plam 



'IVVEA)TYBoOANCl3AMMAfl -SCHOOL DujLtJlAJC; 

WITH HA1_L_ 




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Thico >5toey Plan 




MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



CHAPTER I. 

IN GENERAL. 

It has been said that more money is expended each year 
in the United States in the construction and maintenance of 
public-school buildings than is used for a like purpose in all 
the other countries of the world combined. While this 
appears to be an exceedingly broad statement, still it may 
not be an exaggeration, especially when our vast size and 
wonderful increase in population during the past decade are 
taken into consideration; for it can be affirmed with assur- 
ance that no community of this great nation, be it ever so 
humble, will long remain without a structure of some kind 
within which its children can receive at least the rudiments 
of an education. It is also undisputed that in the West, our 
greatest field of development, the first substantial public 
structure evolved from the chaotic mining-camp or land- 
" boomer's " settlement is the schoolhouse, which thus 
becomes the pioneer of enlightenment, progress, and knowl- 
edge. It is likewise true that these indisputable facts are 
more noticeable in our own than in any other country, for, 
however ignorant, lawless, or depraved the native American 

7 



8 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

parents may be, there is found in them, as a rule, an inborn 
desire not only to improve the condition of their children, 
but to have them receive wholesome training. This ten- 
dency becomes stronger as the ratio of intelligence and 
prosperity increases, it being recognized intuitively that the 
surest safeguard that any nation can have is knowledge, 
and that the best way that it can be imparted to the masses 
is by the public education of their children. 

That the public system of education has been carried irt 
our country during the last half-century to a degree of per- 
fection heretofore unknown to any country of the world nO' 
one will deny ; and that to-day the United States is far in 
advance of all other nations in this respect will also be 
admitted. 

Can it be said, however, with equal assurance that our 
school buildings have kept pace with our educational 
systems ? In other words, are they as complete in their 
design and construction as the educational system is in its. 
plan and equipment ? This question propounded to the 
average citizen will be answered without hesitancy in the 
afifirmative, and to emphasize he will point with pride to the 
numerous school buildings of more or less architectural merit 
to be found in his immediate locality. He assumes that 
because the building cost a certain amount of money and is 
pretentious, at least in outward appearance, it possesses all 
the essential qualifications of a good school structure. In 
these assumptions he is perfectly sincere and impartial, and, 
so far as his knowledge extends, has given an honest opinion. 
Perhaps nothing more should be expected, for the difference 
between that which is good and bad is often so inconspicuous 
as to be visible only to the trained eye; yet when the differ- 



IN GENERAL. O 

ence is once understood it becomes ever after painfully 
apparent and obnoxious. It may therefore be in the nature 
of a blessing that the old adage, " Where ignorance is bliss 
'tis folly to be wise," is so directly applicable to the great 
mass of public opinions expressed in regard to modern school 
buildings. 

But leaving all consideration of the exterior architectural 
merit of the modern school building — going back, in fact, to 
the fundamental principle, which is tJie uses for zvhich the 
building is intended — and remembering that the building is 
to live and work in, not to look at, how then will it stand 
searching investigation ? The competent critic — and I claim 
that the average citizen, however much of an oracle he may 
be, is not in this class — will tell you that, judged by estab- 
lished and well-known (to the initiated) standards of con- 
struction and hygienic excellence, not one old building in 
fifty, nor new building in ten, comes anywhere near fulfilling 
the requirements. 

That earnest efforts have frequently been made to correct 
existing evils and prevent their being repeated is true, and 
that there is an abundance of statistics and data at hand 
which if it were understandingly used would overcome many, 
if no tall, of the glaring faults so frequently encountered, is 
also undisputed; but in spite of this and in the face of the 
teachings of such men as Cohn, Lincoln, Billings, and 
Windsor, school buildings are constantly being erected all 
over this broad land of ours that are full of errors in plan- 
ning, construction, lighting, heating, and ventilation. If 
you think this is a wild statement, let me refer you to a 
paper written by Dr. A. G. Young, Secretary of the Maine 
state Board of Health, published in its Seventh Annual 



lO MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

Report for the year 1891. He says: "Two years later, or 
during the fall and winter of 1887-88, the Secretary of this 
Board personally visited and inspected eighty-four school 
buildings in twenty-three of the cities and larger villages of 
the State. The object was to examine a large enough 
number of the schoolhouses in different parts of the State, 
so that the results might be considered as fairly representa- 
tive of the schoolhouses of the State generally, with a like 
location in cities and villages. The time spent upon each 
school building ranged from a few minutes, for a hasty sur- 
vey, to half a day, or a whole day, diligently spent in 
examining, measuring, and testing, and in making notes. 
The results were published in full in the Third Annual 
Report of the Board. The eighty-four buildings examined 
varied in size from one-room schoolhouses to twelve- and 
even twenty-four-room buildings, and they contained an 
aggregate of 284 rooms, excluding recitation-rooms. 

" As regards the lighting and ventilation of these rooms 
the following shows the conditions found: 

Lighting of rooms satisfactory dy 

Lighting of rooms unsatisfactory 217 

Ventilation satisfactory 16 

Ventilation none or insufficient 268 

" It should be said regarding this classification of results 
that some of the rooms in which the lighting is classed as 
satisfactory zvould not be called so if judged in accordance 
with very exacting rules, and that hardly any, and perhaps 
none, of the sixteen schoolrooms put down as zvell ventilated 
came up to the ideal standard. 

" While the window-surface of schoolrooms should be at 



IN GENERAL. ' II 

least one fifth as great as the floor-surface, the ratio actually 
found was often only one eighth, one tenth, one twelfth, or 
even in a few cases one sixteenth or one seventeenth, — 
degrees of lighting so insuf^cient that they cannot fail to be 
injurious to the eyes of the scholars. 

" A very serious fault found in some schoolhouses was 
the location of some of the windows directly before the eyes 
of the scholars as they sat at their studies. Even in one 
twenty-thousand-dollar schoolhouse, passing as an architec- 
turally fine building, there were found six large windows 
with a western outlook directly in front of the scholars. 
The effects upon the eyes of the pupils had been so disas- 
trous that the school officers were seeking to obviate the 
difficulty, and they have done so in part by a new arrange- 
ment of the seats. 

" As regards the ventilation, the best results were found 
in the main room of the Cony high-school building at 
Augusta. Determined by Wolpert's air-tester, there were 
found only Sy^ir parts of carbonic acid in I0,000 parts of 
air. In this room a large part of the scholars are absent 
from their seats most of the time in the three recitation- 
rooms. On the other hand, in many other schoolrooms 12, 
14, 16, 18, and 20 parts in 10,000 parts of air were found. 
In one city high school 29 parts of carbonic acid were 
found; in another city high school 22 parts; in one fine 
new building, reached just as the school was dismissed at 
noon, 18 and 20 parts of carbonic acid respectively were 
found in two of the rooms one hour after the scholars had 
left the building, the doors and windows being closed, but 
the ventilating arrangement in operation meanwhile. In 
some of the rooms no artificial methods of air-testing were 



12 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

needed, for upon entering them the close, stuffy, and dis- 
agreeable smell of polluted air was very unpleasantly per- 
ceptible to the sense of smell." 

In this connection it will be well to quote: " An excep- 
tionally valuable statement is made by the engineer of the 
Walker building, of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 
nology, relative to certain atmospheric determinations in the 
various rooms of that building during the last nine years, as 
made and recorded four times daily. According to these 
data the outer air surrounding the institute shows an ordi- 
nary proportion of from 3.7 to 4.2 parts of carbonic acid in 
10,000 parts of air. In the empty rooms the air shows a 
rise of carbonic acid of about 0.5 part, due to decomposition 
of the organic matter present in the flues, the floors, and the 
walls. The air of the building in general, of the halls, read- 
ing-rooms, etc., which are open and in which people are 
constantly moving about, is, it appears, maintained at about 
5 parts as an average of all tests for eight years. The air of 
most of the lecture-rooms has contained from 6 to 8 parts, 
rising to 10 or 12 parts for the large and more crowded 
rooms, according to the state of the weather outside. From 
this state of things it is argued that students are capable 
of working well in a clean room with about 7 parts in 
10,000 of carbonic acid. It is well added that a greater 
degree or amount than that is sufficient to cause dulness, and 
anything in excess of 13 parts is declared to be an almost in- 
superable obstacle to the full acquisition of knowledge by the 
classes." It will be readily seen from this that the pupils 
even in the best heated and ventilated schoolrooms found in 
the State of Maine were pursuing their studies in an impure 
atmosphere, and that the great majority were confined in 



IN GENERAL. I3 

rooms that must have been highly injurious to their 
health. 

The sanitary conditions were found to be equally bad, 
and, if necessary, I could quote from numerous other reliable 
sources to show the correctness of my premises. It is 
reasonable to assume that the public-school buildings of the 
State of Maine are a fair sample of the buildings devoted to 
similar purposes in the surrounding States; accepting this 
assumption, then surely the statements that I have previously 
made are in no way an exaggeration. Perhaps it will be 
claimed that better results in heating and ventilation than 
those obtained in the main room in the Augusta building are 
impossible without the use of an elaborate mechanical 
apparatus. In reply to this it is only necessary to say that 
I know of schoolrooms, tested as long ago as 1883, in a 
twenty-room structure where the following results were 
obtained : 

Room No. 8 55 pupils. 

Air at ingress contained 1.25 parts of carbonic acid in 
10,000 parts of air. 

Air at breathing-point contained 1.256 parts of carbonic 
acid in 10,000 parts of air. 

Air at exit contained 2.948 parts of carbonic acid in 
10,000 parts of air. 

The tests of the air of the room (which was selected at 
random) were conducted by an experienced analytical chemist 
at the request of a certain Board of Education which was at 
that time deeply interested in the heating and ventilating of 
school buildings. The method of heating employed was 
indirect steam, and the apparatus entirely automatic and com- 
paratively inexpensive to construct and to maintain. 



14 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

If such results have been obtained in one building, they 
certainly can be duplicated in another with more or less 
modifications, and there is absolutely no excuse for the exist- 
ence of such schoolrooms as, according to Dr. Young's 
paper, comprise the great majority in the State of Maine. 

It will be naturally asked why, when the results like those 
just cited are obtainable, they are not always insisted upon 
and the standard of excellence raised in every department of 
schoolhouse construction to the highest obtainable point. 

The answers to this and pertinent questions are many and 
far-reaching, and it is my purpose in this work to point out 
some of them and suggest practical remedies, I shall con- 
sider, first, the methods usually employed to secure the 
necessary funds for the school building; second, the popular 
way of selecting the architect (incidentally discussing this 
phase of the question from several points of view); and 
finally, describing and illustrating faults of planning, con- 
struction, lighting, sanitation, heating, and ventilation that 
are commonly encountered. 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



^%. 




MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. . I/ 




MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



19 




CHAPTER II. 
APPROPRIATIONS. 

One of the primary causes of unsatisfactory buildings is 
the lack of sufficient funds to properly erect and fully equip' 
structures of the required size. It is safe to say that in the 
great majority of cases the attempt is made to build a build- 
ing of a certain size for an amount of money totally inade- 
quate. This fault does not, as a rule, lie with the local 
Board of Education or building committee that may have the 
matter directly in charge, but primarily with the town or city 
meeting where the appropriation for the proposed structure 
has been made. The usual course pursued is something as 
follows: It has been decided, after considerable agitation, 
that a certain small city is in need of a new high-school 
building, and a public meeting is called for the purpose of 
appointing a committee and to appropriate the necessary 
funds. No very definite ideas of the size of the building or 
the accommodations that it must necessarily contain have 
been formulated, and it is more than probable that a site has 
not been selected. A few who are directly connected or 
interested in the school have rather a vague idea that a 
certain number of pupils must be provided for, and that any 
one of half a dozen sites that may be suggested will be 
acceptable. Beyond this there is absolutely no data to guide 



22 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

the meeting either in selecting the site or in determining the 
amount of money necessary to erect a building suitable to 
the future needs of the city. The meeting is called to order, 
its object and purpose stated, and a committee composed of 
good representative men, in whom the community will place 
the utmost confidence, is quickly selected. 

It is now moved by some level-headed business man that 
an appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars be made 
for the purpose of purchasing a site and erecting thereon a 
building suitable for the use of the high school. A motion 
of this kind, while strictly legitimate and based upon the 
soundest business principles, almost invariably precipitates 
discussion and creates an unreasonable and unwarranted 
opposition that is both unfortunate and disastrous. A 
golden opportunity is afforded the local oracle, who usually 
poses as a reformer and loves to denounce in unmeasured 
terms any scheme of improvement that may require the use 
of the city's money. Men of this class are not, as a rule, 
taxpayers, but they are still very much in evidence and by 
glib talk and noisy bluster succeed in stirring up so much 
opposition to the original motion that it is lost and a motion 
appropriating fifty thousand dollars is substituted and passed. 
The champions of economy are jubilant; they have won a 
signal victory, and the people's treasury will not be depleted! 

Let us see, however, before passing judgment, what the 
ultimate result of the action of the meeting will be. The 
committee goes to work conscientiously and purchases for 
twenty thousand dollars a site that is satisfactory to the 
majority. Then with the superintendent of schools and 
perhaps the principal it visits existing structures in neighbor- 
ing cities and, after many meetings and much labor, formu- 



APPROPRIATIONS. 23 

lates a program of the requirements of the school as they 
understand them. This is submitted to local, and in some 
cases to outside, architects with an invitation to present 
■designs for the proposed building in competition, — it being 
expressly stipulated that the completed structure, including 
the necessary furniture, shall not exceed in cost the sum of 
thirty thousand dollars. 

What an absurdity such a program is and how unreason- 
able it is to expect any architect to live up to its provisions! 
The committee when it issued the program, and the architects 
when they received it, knew — if they knew anything — that 
it would be absolutely impossible to erect and equip the 
simplest kind of a building, containing rooms of the number 
and size required, for the price so arbitrarily stipulated. The 
committee, however, should not be severely censured, as it 
has only carried out its instructions to the best of its ability. 
In fact it could pursue no other course, for at the outset the 
action of the meeting prescribed its duties and practically 
tied its hands. 

The invited architects, on the other hand, are in no way 
bound to accept the invitation, and a few conscientious men 
will probably decline, and frankly state their reasons for so 
•doing. But will the majority enter a protest, or go to the 
committee in a body and say: " Gentlemen, it is simply im- 
possible for us to prepare designs for your new building, 
according to the program which you have sent us, that will 
come anywhere near the price that you name "? As a rule, 
a very different course is pursued: the competitors proceed 
to get up the best-looking design that they are capable of 
producing, paying little or no attention to the cost, and at 
the same time institute as complete a system of social and 



24 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

political wire-pulling for the design that they are to present 
as lies in their power. 

The designs are sent in, the committee is besieged by 
the competitors and their friends, and, after more or less 
deliberation and without obtaining professional counsel or 
advice, they, with their profound knowledge of architectural 
merit, select one of the designs, and the successful com- 
petitor is instructed to prepare working drawings and specifi- 
cations and obtain estimates for the erection of the building. 
When this has been done it is found that the lowest reliable 
figure amounts to more than twice the sum at the disposal of 
the committee. A consultation between the committee and 
the architect follows, which results in the latter's receiving 
instructions to revise his design and cut it down to the lowest 
limit consistent with the requirements and sound construc- 
tion. This after some delay is accomplished, but still the 
price of the building, fully equipped, is far in excess of thirty 
thousand dollars, and so the matter hangs fire, the committee 
being criticised for not attending to its duties, while the 
people are clamoring that the work upon the new building 
shall be commenced. At last the committee is reluctantly 
forced to call another town meeting to secure, if possible, an 
additional appropriation. This meeting is far from har- 
monious, much ill feeling being manifested on all sides. The 
committee is condemned for selecting so expensive a design, 
and the architect still more for presenting a design which he 
must have known could not be erected for the amount speci- 
fied. Other competitors, or their friends, contend that their 
designs could be executed much more cheaply; collusion and 
fraud, if not openly charged, are strongly hinted, a pro- 
tracted and heated controversy ensues which is generally 



APPROPRIA TIONS. 



-3 



ended by the granting of a small additional amount — far too 
little to erect even the modified design or any building suited 
to the school's requirements. 

The committee again consult the architect, towards 
whom, by this time, they have not the kindliest feelings, or 
much confidence in any statements he may make. The plans 
are again revised, rooms are reduced far below the standard 
size, halls are contracted, staircases narrowed, ceilings 
lowered, windows omitted, walls and piers lightened to very 
near the danger limit, and this or that left out, until finally 
figures are obtained within the specified limit and the build- 
ing is erected. But is this the structure that the original 
program called for, or is it what the committee desired, the 
school required, and the people expected ? Certainly not. 
The pruning process to which the design has been subjected 
has eliminated not only whatever artistic merit it may have 
originally possessed, but that which is still more vital to the 
successful working of the school and the health and comfort 
of its occupants — those elements of scientific and hygienic 
construction that were incorporated in it. The building 
stands completed, a monument of municipal blundering — a 
reflection on all those who have had to do with it, and an 
ignoble example of the pernicious results of the methods 
usually employed in obtaining an appropriation. 

Where now is the triumph of the local reformers, and 
where is the economy that was so loudly heralded ? The 
building is condemned on all sides, and the very men who 
defeated the original motion are the most outspoken in their 
condemnation. Do you think that I have overdrawn the 
picture in my statement of the ordinary methods of pro- 
cedure, or mutilated facts in regard to the results obtained ? 



26 MODERM AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

If you do, investigate a little and you will find scores of 
examples that will prove the correctness of my statements^ 
Better still, ask some of the gentlemen who may have had 
the misfortune to serve on such a committee, and I am sure 
that they will answer that not one half of the obstacles and 
trials they were called upon to face and surmount have 
been named. Is it any wonder that buildings constructed 
under such a system as this, whose functions seem to hamper 
and impede from the start, when weighed in the scale of true 
excellence are found wanting ? It cannot be otherwise, and 
there must be a radical change in the way appropriations are 
made before there can be any marked improvement. 

The remedies for the evils depicted are so simple and 
effective that it seems almost incredible that they are not 
better known and universally adopted. 

In the first place, appoint your committee at a meeting 
convened for this purpose, instruct it, if you will, to purchase 
a suitable site, and give it full power to select an architect 
and obtain the necessary plans and estimates for the proposed 
building, and stop right there ; say nothing about the amount 
to be expended. Do not hamper the committee in any way, 
but let it find out what the requirements of the school are 
and what kind of a building is best suited to them and the 
site. Let the committee choose as its architect one who has 
had wide experience in the planning and construction of 
school buildings, a man in whom the utmost confidence can 
be placed as to his ability and integrity — there are such men 
and their services can be obtained. Above all, let no local 
pride nor personal friendship influence the committee in this 
selection; let it remember that this is not a personal but a 
public matter, to be governed accordingly. 



APPROPRIA TIONS. ' 2/ 

When the architect has been engaged let him meet with 
the committee, the superintendent and principal of the 
school, and thoroughly discuss the requirements of the new 
building. You will find his suggestions and advice of incal- 
culable value to all. When he has obtained their ideas, let 
him prepare his preliminary sketches. When he has finished 
these, carefully study and thoroughly discuss them with him, 
and when they have been revised and made satisfactory to 
all, let him prepare his working plans and specifications and 
obtain reliable estimates for what the building can be con- 
structed. 

When the figures are obtained and you know just what 
amount is needed to purchase the selected site and erect a 
building perfectly equipped, which will in every way meet the 
requirements of the school, the^i, mid 7tot before, call a meet- 
ing and boldly ask for an appropriation large enough to cover 
the total expense to be incurred. This is simply a proppsi- 
tion based on true business principles, and nine times out of 
ten, when this course is pursued and the matter put properly 
before the meeting by representative men who, by the 
experience they already have had, are well qualified to speak 
intelligently on the matter and answer effectively any argu- 
ments or opposition that may be promulgated by the 
"reform" element, the amount asked for will be granted 
with little or no opposition. 

The structure can then be commenced without delay, the 
work pushed rapidly to completion, and when finished the 
building will be perfectly adapted to the school's require- 
ments, a credit to all those directly connected with it, and a 
source of pride to the community in which it stands. 

Should it happen to be the tenth time and the meeting 



28 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

refuse, for some reason, to grant the amount asked for, or 
cut it down, then let the committee resign in a body and 
wash its hands of the whole affair. Let others, if they 
choose, adopt the methods first mentioned and obtain the 
results there faithfully described. But if you want good and 
improved buildings, erected upon the best known and most 
scientific principles, — in which your children can improve 
their minds without injuring their health, — stand for the 
right principles, and by so doing obtain the respect and last- 
ing gratitude of your fellow men. 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 







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CHAPTER III. 

COMPETITIONS. 

The almost universal method of obtaining designs for 
schools or other public buildings cannot be too strongly con- 
demned. I refer to the unrestricted or open competition. 
No surer way can be devised to prevent the first men of the 
profession from submitting designs than this; therefore the 
primary object of the competition, which is to obtain the best 
talent, is defeated at the very outset by the course ordinarily 
pursued. 

When it has been determined to erect a building it is not 
unusual to insert in the local papers an advertisement inviting 
architects to submit competitive designs for a structure of 
more or less importance. It is stated that the edifice shall 
not exceed in cost a certain sum, and that further informa- 
tion may be obtained upon application to the chairman of the 
building committee. No fixed compensation is offered to the 
successful competitor, nor are they assured that the designs 
handed in will be judged intelligently according to the archi- 
tectural merit they may possess. 

For a fifty-thousand-dollar building the munificent sum of 
two hundred dollars will be paid for the design that is placed 
first, it being stipulated that upon its selection and the pay-' 
ment of the prize to its author it shall become the property 

33 



34 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

of the city, and it is not agreed that the successful architect 
will even be employed to execute the work. It would seem 
that conditions of this kind would prevent any sane man from 
competing; for, in the first place, he has no reason to believe 
that his design, however meritorious it may be, will even be 
understood — much less appreciated and judged intelligently; 
and, in the second, if it should be placed first, and he 
should receive the paltry premium, what claim has he against 
the city ? Absolutely none, for it is proposed, and he in 
competing accepted, certain conditions which, having been 
fulfilled by the payment of the prize, leave him without 
redress, and the city is at liberty to use the design that it 
has acquired as it may think best. 

In spite of these facts being well known by the profes- 
sion, committees have no difficulty in obtaining an almost 
unlimited number of competitors. It is needless to say that 
these men are not reputable practitioners nor men of high 
standing in the profession ; but what does the average com- 
mitteeman know about that, or, if he should know, what does 
he care? He is not going to trouble himself about the ethics 
of the architectural world nor investigate the professional 
standing and talents of the various competitors. His city 
has a certain amount of money to expend for a school build- 
ing, and the architect who will do the work the cheapest — 
that is, give him the most for his money — is the man he will 
advocate and vote for. To the majority of laymen the selec- 
tion of an architect is purely a commercial transaction. The 
artistic and scientific elements do not, in their minds, enter 
into the question at all; or, if they do, it is in so small a 
degree as to be entirely overwhelmed by its mercenary 
aspect. From his point of view he must not be too severely 



COMPETITIONS. ' 35 

censured; his actions are based upon the best of motives. 
He believes if he can buy the required service cheaply, he is 
working for the best interests of his city, and that he will be 
commended for his efforts to be economical with the public 
funds which have been entrusted to his care. He does not 
understand nor appreciate that cheap labor, no matter at 
what price obtained, is sure to be the most expensive in the 
long run. 

In some competitive programs issued by committees, 
there is a clause inserted in which the architects are requested, 
when they submit their designs, to state what will be their 
lowest terms for full professional services; in other words, a 
double competition is instituted — one architectural and the 
other financial. It usually results that the financial side is 
by far the most powerful element in the ultimate decision. 
Nothing can be more obnoxious or better calculated to drive 
the best men from the field than such a proposition as this. 
What practitioner of high standing and wide experience 
would for a moment think of complying with such require- 
ments ? Just think of inviting a score or more of reputable 
doctors to name a price for what they would cure you if you 
were ill. Or, if you were in trouble, would you expect 
eminent lawyers to submit figures naming the price for which 
they would defend you? Far from it: quacks in one instance 
and shysters in the other might; and if they did, you would 
brand them as such as quickly as anybody and have nothing 
to do with them. Why not, then, pass the same unbiased 
judgment upon the architects? It is just such a class in their 
profession who pursue such tactics, and they should be 
judged accordingly. I do not mean to infer that it is not 
done continually by men in all the professions who try to 



36 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

pose as respectable practitioners, but what I do maintain^ 
without fear of contradiction, is that such men are not 
reputable in the true sense of the word, and that they, by 
their actions, impose upon the people at large, prevent men 
of ability from competing, and deprive the community of 
receiving the benefit of the best talent. For it ultimately 
results in placing the designing and construction of buildings 
in the hands of men of inferior ability with but one conse- 
quence, the completed structure is not so good as it might 
have been, as it does not represent the highest standard of 
excellence obtainable. 

When the other conditions of a competition are favorable, 
fear of favoritism many times prevents desirable men from 
entering, and this fear is usually well grounded. It is no 
exaggeration to say that fully one half of the ordinary com- 
petitions instituted are practically decided before the invita- 
tions are issued; that is to say, some one man or firm is 
known to have the " inside track " and will be the choice of 
the majority of the committee. It is no unusual thing to be 
informed, upon inquiring if there is likely to be any preference 
shown in the selection of an architect, that " all things being 
equal, we certainly should be in favor of employing Messrs. 
So-and-so, our local firm." I think that I can truly say that 
my brethren who have had much experience in such matters 
find almost invariably that " all things are very nearly 
equal." Innumerable cases can be cited where men of 
inferior ability and no experience have been selected to 
execute important commissions when they have had for com- 
petitors men of wide experience and brilliant achievements — 
the selection not having been made upon the merit of the 



COMPE TIT IONS. 3 7 

design, but solely for the reason that one man had the local 
"pull." 

Experience has time and again demonstrated that satis- 
factory results cannot be obtained from the open competitiouo 
If this could be impressed upon committees and they would 
act accordingly, their duties would be lighter and our build- 
ings better. 

If competitions must be held, let them be limited, not 
only in the number of competitors, but as to their profes- 
sional ability as well. Let only those of the highest standing 
be invited, and pay them all a sum sufficient to cover the 
actual expense of preparing the preliminary designs sub- 
mitted. There can be no greater injustice than that of 
asking architects to prepare competitive designs for buildings 
which they have to spend weeks and sometimes months upon, 
without compensation. The preparation of such designs 
often necessitates an expenditure of hundreds of dollars 
without counting the time of the architect as anything. If 
successful, the usual commission is small enough without 
deducting the cost of the original sketches; but if unsuccess- 
ful, and only one in many can succeed, the expense incurred 
and labor expended are simply thrown away. 

To a layman who does not comprehend these facts, the 
preparation of a design seems a very trivial affair. A few 
sheets on which are depicted with more or less skill and 
fidelity a structure that may be built, has to him no intrinsic 
value. But to the architect who has created it, it represents 
just as much in value as a certain amount of merchandise 
does to the manufacturer, and should, if justice is to be 
done, be paid for in the same way. 

Another measure that should be insisted upon in the 



38 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

limited competition is that all the drawings submitted shall 
be equal in number, executed at the same scale, and rendered 
in the same way. The committee should also pledge itself 
to employ a distinguished, disinterested architect to assist it 
in the preparation of the program and agree that he shall 
examine and pass judgment upon the designs when they are 
sent in, his decision being binding upon the committee. 

This may appear an arbitrary and high-handed measure, 
but I am sure, from a long and wide experience in such 
matters, that it is the only fair and equitable course to 
pursue. I have said before, and repeat here, that the average 
layman is not a competent critic. A clever draughtsman 
can, in rendering, cover up faults in such a manner as to 
completely deceive the untrained eye. He will finish his 
drawing so skilfully that all good points will be emphasized 
and the bad ones subordinated. It is only the trained eye 
that will discover these subterfuges and judge the drawing 
for what it is really worth. 

Another thing must also be remembered, and that is, that 
it does not follow because you may have a pretty and attrac- 
tive picture presented that the building it illustrates is of 
good design. A conglomeration of several styles thrown 
together with some skill may produce that which seems to 
the uneducated eye a very beautiful composition, when it 
really contains no real artistic merit and would be most un- 
satisfactory if carried out. An expert will readily discern 
these things and prevent the committee from being deceived. 

Another reason for employing an expert is that upon 
almost all committees there will be found men who consider 
themselves an fait in all matters pertaining to architec- 
ture and building. It is not uncommon to hear them ex- 



COMPETITIONS. 39 

patiate upon the beauties of one building and condemning 
another with equal vehemence, when if the truth were really 
known they could not even tell you in what style of architec- 
ture either was built. 

Such criticism is simply laughed at by the professional 
man; but it is far different to those who do not understand 
such matters at all. To them the calibre of these blatant 
critics is unknown ; what they say has more or less weight, 
and if they happen to be serving on a committee together 
they are sure to be influenced by them. When the true 
expert is called in the oracle retires within his shell and the 
harm that he might otherwise do is averted. 

If a knotty point of law is to be decided, a severe illness 
diagnosed, or the stability of an important bridge deter- 
mined, an eminent lawyer, doctor, or engineer is at once 
called in. Their criticisms are listened to and followed as 
closely as possible. Why not then pursue the same course 
in an architectural competition ? I can see no good reason 
why it should not be done, while innumerable ones present 
themselves upon the other side. If committees would seri- 
ously consider these pertinent points and recognize the great 
importance of sound professional advice, they would speedily 
eliminate from the limited competition one of its most 
objectionable features. 

Better far than any competition, no matter how carefully 
it may be conducted, is the direct selection of an architect. 
Choose a man of known eminence in his profession and of 
special skill in the designing and construction of school 
buildings. Make the selection impartially and without regard 
to local pride or political influence, and you will find the 
results will fully justify your action. 



40 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

No better example of the wisdom of such a course can be 
cited than the results obtained at the recent Columbian 
Exposition. When Messrs. Burnham & Root were employed 
as consulting architects by the Exposition officials and were 
asked to design the principal buildings, their answer was that 
no one firm could do the work as it should be done. The 
first thought was to advertise for competitive designs for the 
proposed structures. To their lasting credit be it said, 
Messrs. Burnham & Root strenuously objected, and clearly 
pointed out that such a course would be detrimental to the 
best interests of the Exposition. They argued that the com- 
missioners would not only be overwhelmed with worthless 
designs and pestered beyond measure by the friends of the 
various competitors, but that much valuable time would be 
consumed in conducting and deciding such a competition, the 
results of which would be unsatisfactory, as the very men 
most desired would not compete. 

They urged the direct selection of the most prominent 
men in the profession in various parts of the country, and the 
allotment to each of one of the great buildings which might 
be considered as best suited to his capabilities. It was stip- 
ulated that the men thus employed should have the entire 
construction of the buildings in their hands. Most for- 
tunately for all concerned, this advice was heeded, and prac- 
tically such a course followed with results that all the world 
knows and has commended. To Richard M. Hunt, the 
father of American architecture, was allotted the Administra- 
tion Building; to Geo. B. Post, the great Liberal Arts 
Building; to Peabody & Stearns, Machinery Hall; to McKim, 
Mead & White, the Agricultural Building; and to the 
artistic Atwood, a worthy successor to the lamented Root, 



COMPE TITIONS. 4 1 

the Art Palace and stately Peristyle. These men, with 
other giants of the profession, produced at Chicago in an 
incredibly short time the grandest and most beautiful group 
of exposition buildings that the world has ever seen — struc- 
tures so well planned and executed, so thoroughly adapted 
to the requirements, that it has enabled America to say 
truthfully that her architects are second to none. 

Will any one pretend to say that such marvellous results 
as these could have been obtained by an open competition ? 
Most emphatically, no. If such a course had been adopted, 
not one of these really great men, whose genius we now 
admire, would have competed, and their talent and skill 
would have been lost to the country. 

I believe firmly that the results obtained by the employ- 
ment of men of recognized talent at Chicago has been of the 
greatest benefit, not only to the architectural profession, but 
to all those interested in the artistic development of our 
country. What could be accomplished by architects when 
working in harmony with each other under favorable condi- 
tions, and without undue restraint, was not only a revelation, 
but a source of pride, to the community at large. 

A remarkable fact to be considered in this connection 
was that, although architects from all parts of the country were 
employed and came into close connection with each other, 
there was no jealousy noticeable; everything moved smoothly 
and rapidly forward, and, while much friendly criticism was 
indulged in, it was invariably received with the utmost good 
nature; no bad feeling was shown; but each and every one 
seemed to be filled with a desire to do the best he could, 
and to help his neighbor to do the same. 

It is to be hoped that the data which can be deduced 



42 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

from this great object-lesson will be applied by committees 
having the construction of school buildings in their charge, 
and that in the near future the once popular competition 
will be condemned to the obscurity it so richly deserves. 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 43 

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CHAPTER IV. 

SPECIALISTS. 

I AM a thorough believer in specialists. The field of 
architecture is large, and it seems strange that it has not 
been subdivided. In law there is the patent lawyer, the cor- 
poration lawyer, the criminal lawyer, etc. ; in medicine there 
is the surgeon, the dentist, the oculist, the aurist, and the 
various doctors for the brain, throat, lungs, etc. ; in engineer- 
ing the civil, mechanical, mining, and electrical engineers. 
These men rarely leave their chosen path and consequently 
do better work. It is not uncommon in consulting with one 
of them to be told that your case is not in his line; that while 
he might be able to serve you he would prefer to introduce 
you to some one who was a specialist in the class of work 
which you wish done. I have never known of anything of this 
kind occurring in my profession; on the contrary, everything 
that gets into the architect's net is " fish." It is no unusual 
thing to find in the office of a busy architect a design for a 
twenty-story office-building on one board, a suburban cottage 
on another, a railway station on a third, with possibly a 
church, a casino, and a schoolhouse sandwiched in between; 
buildings whose characteristics, requirements, and equipment 
are entirely different. It is hardly reasonable to assume that 
any one man can be equally clever in designing them all. 

49 



50 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

•Some one branch he is likely to excel in, and if it were con- 
tinually cultivated he would gradually become perfected and 
be justly ranked as a specialist. 

It would seem that men endowed with qualifications for 
certain kinds of work would realize it and devote all their 
energies to that branch in which they excel; but human 
nature is perverse, and what others see and know of a man 
he is loth to believe of himself. Thackeray, while a great 
novelist, was a ridiculous artist, and yet his vanity was so 
great that he insisted upon illustrating his writings himself. 
It is said that among actors there is hardly a good low- 
comedian who does not consider himself ill-treated when he 
is assigned parts that are well fitted to his capabilities. His 
aspirations and conceit lead him to believe that he is well 
fitted for the leading roles in tragedy or comedy and he is 
dissatisfied because he is not cast for them. 

It is even so in my profession: men who would shine in 
some of its walks will not stick to them, but wander off and 
strive hopelessly for that for which they are entirely unfitted, 
with results that are disastrous to both client and prac- 
titioner. It is but natural that one should wish to do all 
he can, but if there were more esprit du corps among the 
architects, and if each would keep to his chosen path and 
help others to keep to theirs, the results would be beneficial 
to our buildings and to all connected with them. 

This, however, is not the only reason there are so few 
specialists among architects. Many men who have given a 
great amount of time and study to perfect themselves in 
some particular branch and who would like to follow it con- 
tinuously, are prevented from doing so for the reason that 
their abilities are not sufficiently recognized, and they are 



SPECIALISTS. - 5T 

forced to do other things than those which they can do the 
best in order to earn their daily bread. It is very poor 
satisfaction to the expert to know that however clever he 
may be in a certain line, his cleverness is not appreciated by 
the public at large. He may stand well among his profes- 
sional brethren, but they are not the class that employ him 
except in consultation or in matters under dispute. If he 
relied entirely upon this class of work for his commissions, 
he would simply starve. Doctors and lawyers are paid 
hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars for their 
opinions; but the architect, if he is recognized as a specialist 
in any particular line, never receives any such fees — in fact, 
a charge of fifty dollars per day and travelling expenses is 
enough to make the average client consider him exorbitant 
in his prices and decline to employ him. 

It may be claimed that experts in schoolhouse construc- 
tion are recognized and their abiHties appreciated, but I con- 
tend to the contrary, nevertheless — that is to say, that while 
they may be well known, their skill and knowledge are not 
considered valuable enough by the building public to be 
made use of and properly paid for. I can refer to innumer- 
able instances to prove the truth of these assertions. To illus- 
trate: a certain prosperous town, situated within one hundred 
miles of New York, proposed to erect a high-school building. 
When the committee was appointed to take charge of the 
matter it was immediately besieged by architects from all 
parts of the country who desired to submit designs. Several 
were sent in, and with others afterward received were care- 
fully considered, but none were found satisfactory. At one 
of the meetings of the committee a member suggested that a 
well-known specialist in school designing, residing in a dis- 



52 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

tant city, be asked to submit a design. The secretary of the 
committee communicated with him, and after some corre- 
spondence he sent in a rough sketch of what might be done 
with the problem as he understood it from the data which had 
been sent to him. The sketch, while not suited to the site, 
which he had never seen, was very much liked, and the 
specialist was invited to visit the town, examine the site, and 
after consultation with the committee prepare a design. 
This he agreed to do upon the payment of a fee and travel- 
ling expenses. His proposition was accepted, the town 
visited, the site examined, a lengthy consultation held with 
the committee, and a general scheme of what was to be done 
mapped out. After the meeting some of the committee 
accompanied the specialist to his hotel, and one of them said 
to him, quietly, over a cigar, " I do not know just how this 
matter will adjust itself: there is an unfortunate element 
developing itself rapidly which will, I fear, be very hard to 
counteract. There is a young man, a native of this town, 
who is employed in the ofifice of a firm of architects in New 
York; he Is young, having had actually no experience — in 
fact, you may call him simply a student — but he is a fine 
fello\V and extremely popular. He is very anxious to design 
our building, is preparing sketches, and his family and friends 
are bringing every influence to bear to have him selected as 
our architect. The best men of our committee do not want 
to do this, for while they are friendly to the young man and 
wish to see him succeed in his chosen profession, they do 
not believe that it would be wise at this time to put the 
designing of so important a building into such inexperienced 
hands," The specialist weighed the matter carefully during 
his return journey, finally deciding to submit a second 



SPECIALISTS. ' 53 

sketch. This was received most favorably and was said to 
have met the requirements of the problem perfectly. Yet 
when a vote was taken to select an architect, the young 
native of the town was employed to execute the work. The 
vote was very close, to be sure, but he had friends enough 
upon the committee to defeat the experienced man, his only 
competitor. Here was clearly a case of local popularity and 
family influence. The questions of merit and capability did 
not enter into it at all. The desire to help the young man 
in his profession may have been all right, but to me it seems 
like zeal applied at the wrong time and at a cost to the com- 
munity. Do not understand that I am one who wishes to 
bear too severely upon the young aspirant for fame or who 
believes in keeping back true talent, but I contend that there 
are plenty of legitimate channels of progress through which 
the talented beginner may obtain eminence in good time. I 
do not believe, however, that a course which enables one 
totally untried to spring with a bound into that which is 
popularly supposed to be a prominent position in the archi- 
tectural profession is either legitimate or beneficial. Under 
such conditions as these, is it strange that our buildings are 
not up to the highest known standards ? Does any one for a 
moment admit that this inexperienced boy — he was little 
more — could or would do as well as the old and tried prac- 
titioner, or that he would not be able to do much better ten 
or fifteen years later in his career ? Apropos to this, one of 
the best-known designers of the day recently said to me that 
he could not look upon some of his earlier works without 
having an attack of nightmare and that he would go out of 
his way several blocks to avoid passing them. "I am simply 
filled with amazement," said he, "to think I could have 



54 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

done so badly, yet I thought they were beautiful when I did 
them." All of us have at times feelings akin to this which we 
guard jealously and to which we never allude. As the older 
men look backward along the rugged path they have labo- 
riously climbed, they can see many examples of their earlier 
work which they would gladly obliterate. It takes a great 
many years to realize how little one really knows. I can 
truly say that I firmly believed twenty-five years ago, when 
I commenced practicing, that I knew far more about my pro- 
fession than I know that I know to-day. That man is a 
fool whose vanity leads him to believe that any work that he 
has done or may do cannot be improved upon. We are all, 
even if successful, simply students; and the one who follows 
one line the longest and most conscientiously will become 
the best fitted to do good work in it. 

I once heard a well-known architect say in speaking of 
school buildings: " In all my practice I have never built one 
— if I were to receive such a commission, I should go to 
some expert in the planning, heating, lighting, etc., of this 
class of buildings, and say to him: ' Work out this problem 
as you think it should be according to the program, and 
when you have the plans finished, bring them to me and I 
■will work up the elevations without interfering in the least 
with anything that you may have done,' " I do not know 
as this gentleman ever put his theory into practice, but he 
certainly had the right idea. He realized that the specialist 
could and would do better work than he was capable of, and 
that if he secured a thoroughly good plan it would be easy 
for him to make an attractive exterior for it. 

So much can be said in favor of and so little against the 
employment of the specialist that it would seem, if the 



SPECIALISTS. 55 

advantages derived were understood, that he would be called 
in as a rule and not as an exception. Oftentimes when 
committees themselves are willing and anxious to have the 
advice of an expert, vigorous opposition is encountered from 
would-be competitors and influential citizens. 

In these later days the specialist who persistently rides 
his hobby is very apt to be branded as a crank, and the 
general public is very shy of cranks. "Yes," it will be 
said, ''he is a bright fellow and all right in theory, but he 
carries his theories too far and we do not care for them." It 
is very difficult to maintain a position a little in advance of 
the times and to have to educate the public in theories which 
time will prove to be correct. Such, however, is the func- 
tion of the specialist of to-day, and it should be his endeavor 
to win b}' the soundness and practicability of his advice the 
respect and confidence of the public in general and his client 
in particular. The results will be immeasurably more bene- 
ficial and far-reaching to the progress of good building than 
can be obtained by simply parading certain qualifications 
before the eyes of those who are not yet in a position to 
understand or appreciate them. Therefore I say that the 
public welfare demands the employment of the best talent in 
the designing of our school buildings, and the problem before 
our profession is how to establish public confidence in our 
fitness to do certain things well. I believe that this can best 
be accomplished by a thorough and systematic subdivision of 
the architect's practice. If there could come into existence 
in the near future classes of practitioners who would devote 
themselves entirely to certain departments of an architect's 
work and would do nothing else, they would do that class of 
work more artistically and practically. Supposing one class 



56 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

devoted itself entirely to church work, another to office and 
commercial buildings, another to theatres and music-halls, 
another to court-houses, another to railway stations, another 
to schoolhouses, and so on. Do not we all believe that 
these men would ultimately do better work in their chosen 
lines than they do now ? Would not the architecture of the 
country be improved — in fact, the whole nation benefited 
thereby ? I think there can be no question as to the sound- 
ness of this proposition, and it only remains for clients and 
committees to recognize the best men in the profession in 
certain classes of work, and by employing them constantly in 
these classes to enable them to practice what they preach, 
and so bring about this much-needed reform. 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



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MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS, 



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MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



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^CCOND s5topy Plan 



Lincoln School Building 

BRIDGEPORT, CONN. 
rOURTEElIS ROO/V\& 




Third iTORY Pi 



CHAPTER V. 

COMMISSIONS. 

Architects of high standing and known ability often 
refuse to present designs on account of the small amount of 
the commission offered, and men eminently qualified to do 
the work are frequently not employed for the sole reason that 
their charges are considered exorbitant. 

It is hard to understand just why charges which have 
almost invariably been allowed as legitimate by the courts, 
when they have been called to pass upon them, and a 
schedule which has been officially endorsed by all the archi- 
tectural societies of the country and adopted by every prac- 
titioner of standing, should be considered excessive. Never- 
theless, the fact remains that it is the almost universal 
impression that architects' commissions are enormous while 
their labor amounts to little or nothing. Consequently archi- 
tecture is regarded by the uninitiated as the easiest of pro- 
fessions and the busy practitioner is popularly supposed to 
be coining money. 

How unjust and absurd all such assertions are and how 
utterly devoid of all truth or reason. There is, in fact, no 
profession more difficult and exacting than that of architec- 
ture — that is, if it is practiced in the fullest sense of the word. 

The true architect not only must spend long years in study 

63 



€4 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

and preparation before he is competent to design even the 
simplest kind of a structure and do it as it should be done, 
but when in active practice he will be expected to be a clever 
designer, a good constructor, thoroughly understanding 
masonry in all its branches, carpentry in every detail, plumb- 
ing and sanitary-engineering, tinning and gas-fitting, heating 
and ventilation, slating and painting, and, in these latter 
days, iron and steel construction. He must also be able to 
compute the strength of foundations, walls, piers, columns, 
girders, beams, and trusses, and write an intelligent and com- 
prehensive specification on all these subjects. 

In addition to all these qualifications, to be a successful 
practitioner he must be a first-class business man, capable of 
drawing contracts, looking after the interests of his clients, 
and so alert that he shall not be imposed upon at any time 
by unscrupulous contractors or unskilled workmen. 

Surely his duties are varied and complex enough, demand- 
ing, as they do, the closest study and indefatigable attention 
at all times. Yet for the application of all this knowledge to 
a greater or less degree, in every problem presented and in 
every building constructed, the charge of five per cent upon 
the total amount expended is considered excessive. 

Let us analyze a little and see if there be any well- 
grounded reason for such an opinion. In a speech a few years 
ago before the Congressional Committee on Grounds and 
Buildings, at Washington, the much-lamented architect, 
Mr. Richard M. Hunt of New York, stated that in fifty years 
of active practice he had never been able to produce drawings 
and specifications and supply the superintendence actually 
necessary to properly execute the work for a less sum than 
fifty per cent of the amount of the commission received, and 



COMMISSIONS. ■ 6$ 

that usually the cost was far in excess of this amount. This, 
it must be understood, did not include his own services at 
all, but was what he had actually been obliged to expend for 
ofifice-rent, material, draughtsmen, and superintendence. It 
must also be remembered that Mr. Hunt's commissions were 
of the largest, and that the ratio of the expense of producing 
drawings increases as the cost of the building decreases. So 
marked is this increase in small buildings that many promi- 
nent architects charge a commission of from seven and a half 
to ten per cent on all work costing less than ten thousand 
dollars. The American Institute of Architects has now under 
consideration a new schedule of charges designed especially 
to regulate this matter. 

Within a year the writer met socially one evening seven 
prominent New York architects, and in the course of conver- 
sation the question of the actual expenses necessarily incurred 
for drawings, specifications, and superintendence came up 
and was thoroughly discussed. The gentlemen were all men 
of wide experience and well qualified to speak intelligently 
upon the subject. The unanimous verdict was that the cost 
rarely went below sixty per cent of the amount received and 
frequently reached as high as seventy-five per cent. 

It is but fair, then, to assume that the actual cost to the 
architect, if his work is properly done, for preparing the 
drawings, specifications, and details, and attending to the 
superintendence, will be sixty-five per cent of the five per 
cent commission that he receives; or, in other words, thirty- 
five per cent of the five per cent commission will be for his 
own services. Let it be supposed that he should have on 
hand and commence at about the same time five school 
buildings costing respectively $20,ooo, $40,000, $50,000, 



66 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

$80,000, and $100,000 — a total of $290,000 to be expended. 
At the customary charge of five per cent made by reputable 
practitioners, the total commission on this amount would be 
$14,500. As has been shown, the architect will have to 
expend sixty-five per cent, or §9,425, of this amount, leaving 
thirty-five per cent, or $5,075, for his own services. The 
time required to complete all these buildings from the time 
preliminary sketches were prepared would be at least two 
years, therefore the architect's yearly salary would amount 
to $2,537.50. Surely this sum cannot be called excessive 
when the amount of labor, skill, and responsibility involved 
are taken into consideration. In fact, instead of being over- 
paid, there is no professional man so poorly paid as the 
architect, public opinion and popular sentiment to the con- 
trary notwithstanding. 

Think of a skilled practitioner of twenty years' experience 
devoting himself almost continually for two years to the con- 
struction of five buildings, which he has practically created 
and is responsible for, for the sum of $2,500 yearly. Com- 
pare this with the fees that would be received by a lawyer of 
equal eminence or a doctor of wide experience and reputa- 
tion. Yet their training has been no more severe, their labor 
no harder, and their responsibility not one bit greater. Why 
is it, then, that the architect is considered an expensive luxury 
at a five per cent commission, when the lawyer or doctor is 
often cheerfully paid five times this sum for his services ? 
The principal answer is that the architect's work and duties 
are not properly understood; the greater portion of his labor 
the client never sees and does not understand. Meeting the 
architect in his office, looking at a few plans and one or two 
pretty elevations, leads him to think that these are all there 



COMMISSIONS. " 67 

is to his work. The vast amount of study and detail that it 
has taken to produce what he sees in a condensed form he 
knows nothing about and cares less. No amount of explana- 
tion can make him fully comprehend it, because he cannot be 
made to appreciate that which looks very simple when com- 
pleted, but which may have taken hours, days, or even 
weeks of hard and persistent study and research to evolve. 
It is not, as is generally supposed, the time and labor spent 
in actually executing the final drawings that forms the greater 
portion of the architect's work, nor what the client is paying 
for principally; but the vast amount of thought and study 
expended, often a dozen times repeated, that is essential and 
necessary in every well-conceived design in order to produce 
a harmonious whole. All this work never appears on the 
surface; only the final conception is shown to the clients. 
When this is satisfactory, it is turned over to the draughts- 
men of the office to finish for the contractors, and the labors 
of the architect, so far as the designing of the structure is 
concerned, are practically finished. In fact, the larger por- 
tion of his labors are accomplished before he becomes closely 
associated with his client in the erection of the structure. 
The client, not realizing this fact, counts the time spent by 
the architect in the superintendence of the construction of 
the edifice as the greater portion of the services he is paying 
for, when in reality it is a very small part of it. 

I have used the expression, " if the drawings and specifi- 
cations are properly prepared," and I wish to reiterate and 
emphasize it here, for it is of vital importance for the best 
interests of the building and the client that they should be 
as nearly perfect as it is possible to make them. A contrac- 
tor, when he figures upon a set of drawings and specifications 



68 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

and signs a contract to execute the work in strict conformity 
to them, is bound to follow them implicitly. If he does this^ 
in my judgment he has absolutely no responsibility for any 
faults in the planning or construction that may occur. The 
author of the plans and specifications is the one to whom to 
look for redress, and not the man who is employed to 
execute that which another has laid out. When plans are 
not properly studied and specifications are carelessly drawn, 
faults are bound to occur which will cost the client, in the 
long run, many times the amount of the fee of a first-class 
architect. When men in my profession cut their just com- 
mission in order to secure work, I know that one of two 
things will occur: either their work will not be properly done 
or there will be collusion between them and the contractors. 

I think it will be admitted that it has been shown by un- 
impeachable testimony that the expenses that the true archi- 
tect has to incur is fully sixty-five per cent of his commission; 
if his commission is reduced one half, his work must be 
slighted or he must receive money from some other source to 
secure himself against loss. These are indisputable facts, and 
should convince the most skeptical of the truth of my asser- 
tions. 

As few drawings as possible are made, these being rushed 
through without serious study. Specifications are carelessly 
drawn and the contractors left practically to their own devices 
— the primary object being to get the structure finished and 
accepted as quickly as possible. The result is almost invari- 
ably that when the work is completed it is unsatisfactory, and 
large additional expenditures are necessary to complete it as 
the client expected and had supposed it would be finished. 
Naturally he is disgusted, and condemns the architect who 



COMMISSIONS. ' 6g 

got him into the scrape in unmeasured terms. In this he is 
perfectly justified: but he should stop with the man he has 
employed^ and not extend his condemnation to others nor 
malign the whole profession for the faults of one. 

Closely allied to inferior work of architects is collusion 
between them and contractors. This may be accomplished 
in many ways: by giving a favored contractor a tip as to how 
the work might be done and what material would be 
accepted; by permitting the work to be executed in an 
inferior manner and allowing the introduction of a poorer 
quality of material than that specified; by specifying special 
kinds or makes of goods and receiving a commission for so. 
doing. These are a few only of the many ways and means 
employed, and unless the client is an expert in such matters 
or more than usually alert, such things pass unnoticed, or if 
they are discovered are explained by the architect and con- 
tractor in some plausible way. Such methods save the con- 
tractor considerable sums, and he is very willing to divide the- 
savings with the architect. The architect in this way obtains 
an amount of money which, when added to the two and a 
half, three, or three and a half per cent received from the 
client, will make the total amount of his commission far in 
excess of what it would have been had he been honorable 
and charged the full commission of five per cent. 

The client, instead of saving money as was his intention, 
has not only been swindled and hoodwinked, but put to an 
unwarranted expense. Naturally he is very much dissatisfied 
and very bitter toward the architect. In his indignation he 
condemns the whole profession, and concludes that he would 
have been better off without any architect at all. It is no 
unusual thing to hear men say that architects are a luxury 



70 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

and they would rather employ a good builder. This usually 
occurs after experiences similar to those cited — the client 
in his wrath forgetting that in the first instance his own 
actions precipitated results that were inevitable. When he 
invites architects to state a price in competition for their 
work he drives from the field the very men whose services 
he would like to secure, and paves the way for those who are 
not honorable enough in their practice to resist temptation 
and the consequent corruption. 

If individuals and committees could be made to realize 
that in order to secure the best talent they would have to 
pay that talent a legitimate fee, that in no other way could 
such services be obtained, they would take a great step in 
the direction of public improvement. If they would follow 
these precepts in the selection of the men who are to design 
and have in charge the construction of their school buildings, 
they would find that the results obtained would fully meet 
their fondest expectations and that the completed buildings 
would contain the best-known principles of scientific and 
hygienic construction — in fact, they would be " up to date." 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



71 






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MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 73 



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CHAPTER VI. 
SUPERINTENDENCE. 

I FIND a very widespread and erroneous idea among 
committees and laymen as to the architect's duties in re- 
gard to the superintendence of school or other buildings. 
Frequently I am asked: " Should you be employed to super- 
intend the construction of our building, how often do you 
propose to visit it? And how much time will you spend upon 
it ? " And when I answer (if the structure is not in my own 
city), "Once a week or so, for a few hours only," I am in- 
variably called to account for what is considered inadequate 
service, and have usually to enter into a lengthy explanation 
to defend my position. The fact that the building is to be 
visited but weekly, unless it be that some special contingency 
arises, seems to many the grossest kind of neglect on the 
architect's part. It is argued that he cannot know by visits 
so remote how the work is being done, and that visits daily, 
or at least once in two days, are absolutely necessary to prop- 
erly inspect the work and protect the committee's interests. 
It is hard to make them understand how unnecessary this 
would be if a reliable contractor were employed, and how 
utterly impossible such a superintendence would be for a 
busy practitioner. 

These views of the committee, to my mind, arise entirely 

75 



76 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

from a total misconception of an architect's duties, which are 
confounded with those of a superintendent or inspector kept 
constantly on the ground, and commonly known as the clerk 
of the works. 

That superintendence of this kind is a good thing, both 
for the committee and the architect, no one will gainsay, but 
the idea that such constant surveillance is a part of the archi- 
tect's duties is entirely erroneous. No matter how willing 
and conscientious he may be, it is impossible for him to 
spend more than a few hours a day upon his numerous struc- 
tures; in fact, when busy, assistants have to do by far the 
larger part of this work for him. Sometimes he may not be 
able to see a distant structure for months at a time; even this 
indicates no neglect of duty on his part, as he is usually 
ably represented, and, while he may not visit the work 
himself, is still in close touch with it. 

If the contractor is a reputable man, little or no fear need 
be entertained but that he will live up to the plans and 
specifications and their evident intentions to the best of his 
ability. On the other hand, should the contractor be dis- 
honest, and when he took the contract intended to slight the 
work, no amount of superintendence that the architect can 
give the building (and do anything else) will entirely eradi- 
cate the evil. 

There are but two ways to deal with such conditions. 
The first, by taking the work out of such a man's hands and 
reletting to trustvv'orthy parties; and the second, by employ- 
ing the before-mentioned clerk of the works, who is con- 
stantly upon the ground. 

To explain more fully, this man is employed by the 
owners to be at the building continuously whenever work of 



5 UP ERIN TEND ENCE. 7 / 

any description is being done; he is to inspect all material 
delivered, and, if it does not fully meet the requirements of 
the specifications, report its shortcomings at once to the 
architect. Likewise in regard to the work, if it should be 
done in a slovenly or improper manner, or there should be 
■anything about it that, in his judgment, is not as it was 
evidently intended, the architect should be at once notified, 
and the work stopped until it has been inspected by him and 
the defects remedied ; then only should the work be allowed to 
proceed. Obviously such a clerk must be closely allied with 
the architect, and not with the contractor. He should, in 
fact, be appointed, or at least selected, by the former; for, to 
get good results, he must work in perfect harmony with 
-him. 

A man of this kind on any job of importance is, to my 
mind, invaluable for the best interests of all; and I wish that 
his employment were universally insisted upon. In foreign 
■countries he is very generally found, but in this country, 
except on government and some of the more important 
private buildings, his services are rarely made use of. He is 
not an expensive luxury; good men, fully capable of per- 
forming the duties required, can be had for from six to 
nine hundred dollars per year, and most of our buildings 
are built within this period of time so it is safe to say that 
the employment of such a man would not add to the cost 
of any ordinary building more than one thousand dollars. 
Under such a system the committee's interests would be 
fully protected, and I believe it would be commended for 
adopting such a course, and no one could say but that it was 
money well expended. 

But to return to the architect's duties. The American 



78 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

Institute of Architects, in its schedule of charges and pro- 
fessional practice, defines the point in question as follows: 

SUPERVISION OF WORKS. 

" The supervision or superintendence of an architect (as 
distinguished from the continuous personal superintendence 
which may be secured by the employment of a clerk of the 
works) means such inspection by the architect, or his deputy, 
of a building or other work in process of erection, completion, 
or alteration as he finds necessary to ascertain whether it is 
being executed in conformity with his designs and specifica- 
tions or directions, and to enable him to decide when the 
successive instalments or payments provided for in the con- 
tracts or agreement are due or payable. He is to determine 
in constructive emergencies, to order necessary changes, and 
to define the true intent and meaning of the drawings and 
specifications, and he has authority to stop the progress of 
the work and order its removal when not in accordance with 
them." 

CLERK OF THE WORKS. 

" On buildings where it is deemed necessary to employ a 
clerk of the works, the remuneration of said clerk is to be 
paid by the owner or owners, in addition to any commission 
or fees due the architect. The selection or dismissal of the 
clerk of the works is to be subject to the approval of the 
architect." 

There is no better authority in the land upon such a sub- 
ject than the Institute, and it would seem that the duties so 
clearly defined in these paragraphs could not, under ordinary 



SUPERINTENDENCE. 79. 

circumstances, be misinterpreted. Much more might be said 
in support of the architect's position, but I prefer to leave 
the subject here, and only add that it will be found an infalli- 
ble rule: the better and more reliable the contractor is, the 
less need there is for a clerk of the works. 

On the other hand, if the contractor is unreliable, my 
experience leads me to assert that it will be impossible to 
have the work executed as the architect intended it should 
be, unless a clerk of the works is employed. 

One other point I wish to touch upon in this connection^ 
and that is to insist that the architect should always have full 
charge of the work until it is fully completed, unless he is, 
found absolutely incompetent. Committees sometimes, to 
save money, will make an arrangement by which the archi- 
tect's superintendence is omitted, and a local man put on to 
do this part of the work. Once or twice, in my practice, I 
have had work done in this way, and in each instance it has, 
proved to be most unsatisfactory to both my clients and 
myself. I have always found that the work was not executed 
as intended. My designs were either not understood, or 
wilfully misinterpreted; the superintendent (who is usually 
some builder) has ideas of his own which he induced the 
committee to accept with disastrous results — so much so that 
I have, of late, declined to accept commissions of this char- 
acter. 

If committees have not confidence enough in the architect 
to place the full designing and construction of the proposed 
building in his hands, they had better not employ him. If 
they cannot afford to pay him his full fee, better far abandork^ 
the work than try to save in this department. 



8o MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDJNGS. 

ETHICS. 

. The ethics of the architectural profession may not be 
closely allied with the construction of school buildings, yet 
it seems to me that these papers would not be complete 
unless I called the attention of laymen to a phase of our 
practice that constantly intrudes itself in these modern days. 

The question as to whether the architect shall remain in 
his office and wait for his clients to come to him, or whether 
he shall solicit his work as a tradesman solicits orders, is one 
open to grave discussion. 

Shall we, in a word, become architectural "drummers," 
leave our ofifices and firesides, go out on the road, interview 
every one who may possibly require architectural service, 
and, by every means in our power, try to interest prospective 
clients, and induce them to accept our service ? 

A common expression of the day, in speaking of a par- 
ticularly energetic business man, is to designate him a 
" hustler," and in the trade the qualifications which he pos- 
sesses are considered admirable. Has it become necessary, 
in order to be a successful practitioner of to-day, to become 
an "architectural hustler"? 

I cannot think so; the thought is particularly distasteful 
to me. Yet good friends who are in business insist that it 
is the only way to do; for, they argue, if you don't do this, 
some one else will, you may be sure, and you will simply get 
" left." No doubt they are right in a measure. The suc- 
cessful men of the day have to keep their names and achieve- 
ments constantly before the people; to be, in a word, in the 
public eye; they endeavor by every means to do this, 
working on the theory that no matter what is said of them, 



SUPERINTENDENCE. ' 51 

either good or bad, it is all beneficial from a business point 
of view, as long as some\\\\VLg is said. In trade I am willing 
to grant that all this is true, and am forced to admit, from 
my observation, that it applies more or less to my own pro- 
fession. As I write, a case that will illustrate this point 
comes to my mind. In a limited competition, for a small 
building, six architects were invited to submit sketches 
with full description of same; three of the competitors, of 
whom I was one, were afterwards invited to appear before 
the committee at different times and still further explain their 
designs. Meeting a friend some time afterward from the 
town, and before the competition was decided, I asked if he 
knew anything about it. "I only know this," said he, 
" that that man from New York is getting the bulge on you 
fellows; he has been up here a number of times, has seen 
every one of the committee more than once, and has talked 
his plan and abilities into them so that he has the inside 
track; he's a hustler, he is. You are dead slow. I wouldn't 
let a fellow get ahead of me that way. I give you the tip; 
now go in and knock him out." An interview of this kind 
is pretty apt to arouse all the animosity and latent energy in 
a man; and it requires, at times, considerable self-control to 
forbear entering the lists and frightening such a competitor 
with his own weapons. But this I have never done. I am 
moulded in the older school, and probably am not up to date 
in my ways; if this is so, it is simply my own misfortune. 

Unquestionably, this man had a perfect right, from a 
business standpoint, to do just what he did. Ethically, had 
he an equal right ? He would protest that he had done 
nothing unprofessional; that his methods were legitimate 
and aboveboard ; that he made no secret of seeing the com- 



■S2 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

mittee; and that others had the same privileges. This is all 
true, but it is not, to my mind, in the true spirit of a com- 
petition. It is, in fact, an attempt to influence, by means 
other than those prescribed, a jury, for a committee judging 
plans is just as much of a jury, in one sense, as that of a 
court of law ; and who for a moment, would countenance one 
of the contestants of a lawsuit interviewing a juryman and 
trying to influence his judgment. In the latter case, a person 
-caught doing this would be amenable to the law and sum- 
marily dealt with. I wish it were possible to apply the same 
principle to my profession. The coat that fits the juryman 
does not fit the committeeman, and similar practices which 
are abhorred in one instance are commended in the other. 

I must confess that I do not understand the train of 
reasoning that enables supposedly reputable men of my pro- 
fession to satisfy themselves as to the perfect propriety of 
such proceedings; there must be a screw loose somewhere, 
or possibly the greed for gain is so intense that it has 
blunted all other sensibilities. 

The case cited referred, of course, to a competition; but 
this "forcing system" applies equally to all our work. 
Clients have repeatedly told me that it was no sooner known 
that they proposed to build than they were besieged by 
€very one in the city who could draw, or thought they could 
draw, a plan. So persistent, in some cases, were these men 
that they became positively a nuisance, and harsh measures 
had to be taken to get rid of them. In far too many 
instances men of this class have had success; if they did not, 
they would not continue to practice such methods. The 
first-come first-taken code, is here applicable, and men who 
are not in this wild rush for a job are counted slow and 



SUPERINTENDENCE. - 83 

behind the times. The mystery is, why these practices 
should be applied and accepted in our profession and con- 
demned in the kindred ones of law and medicine. Suppose 
all the doctors in the city should indulge in a wild race to 
reach you the moment you were known to be sick, or that 
the legal fraternity should chase you continually and solicit 
the favor of defending you in a lawsuit. The ethics of their 
professions proscribe such lapses of dignity, and the public 
quickly recognizes and denounces any members who may so 
far forget themselves as to resort to such means to procure 
clients; but, in the architect's case, it is usually accepted 
placidly. There is one thing certain, if one does not respect 
himself, no one else will respect him; and it is largely due to 
the reprehensible practices of men of my own calling that 
the low state of ethics among architects exists. But what I 
vv^ant to say to committees and the public generally in this 
connection is, to beware of the " architectural hustler." 
Don't employ the men who are chasing you, and who herald 
their ability from the housetops. Avoid the know-alls. 
Every problem that confronts the architect requires profound 
study, and rarely are two solutions alike. Select your archi- 
tect as you would your lawyer or your physician, not because 
he can sprint the fastest, talk the loudest, and look the best, 
but because you know that under that quiet, dignified 
exterior real worth and merit abide, and that when you 
place yourself in his hands your interests are safe. Do 
not be scared away from him by that bugbear so often 
used that "he is too expensive." It is better, at the 
start, to pay a good man his price and have your work well 
done, than it is to employ a cheap man and have the work 
neglected. You cannot obtain first-class service and the best 



84 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

of material and workmanship unless you are willing to pay 
for it, and the expenditure had better be for the man who 
will see that you obtain this, rather than for the incompetent 
" cheap " one, who is likely to be in collusion with the con- 
tractor. Committeemen should particularly heed this warn- 
ing, and make their selections accordingly; for, by so doing, 
they secure the best available talent to execute the work 
entrusted to their hands. 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



vffe'^'SS' '^ .;'^^ iilf *'~"' 



85 



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MODERN AMEKICRN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



87 




MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. - o^ 




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First^'toryPlan. 



CHAPTER VII. 

READY-MADE PLANS. 

In the annual reports of State and local Boards of Health 
and Education, and in the reports of the Superintendents of 
Schools from various parts of the country, it has been cus- 
tomary to embody plans of school buildings; these in some 
instances represent finished buildings, but more frequently 
those contemplated or suggested. 

If the authors or compilers of these reports would be con- 
tent to simply make use of the plans of completed structures, 
or those in process of erection, when the reports are issued, 
and obtain from experts concise criticisms, pointing out 
defective, and commending desirable, features of the build- 
ings illustrated, much good might be accomplished ; for in 
this way common faults would be forcibly brought to the 
attention of those most deeply interested in such matters, 
with the natural result that in future building these defects 
would be avoided. It seems to me that such a course as this 
would represent the proper function of these reports as far as 
they may relate to school buildings and their construction ; 
but when, either to make their reports more attractive, or 
with a misconceived idea of improving school architecture, 
they go further and present " ready-made plans," they cer- 
tainly place themselves in a false and unenviable position^ 

91 



92 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

and actually injure instead of benefit the interests that they 
so unwisely attempt to improve. 

Few, indeed, are the architects of good standing in the 
country who will allow their plans to be published in this 
manner, unless it be to illustrate some article that has been 
prepared upon the subject. Even when this is done, sketches 
are usually all that are furnished, and for purely imaginary 
structures not intended for any particular locality or condi- 
tion. Quite likely these sketch designs will be made use of 
by some zealous building committee who consider the legiti- 
mate employment of an architect entirely unnecessary, yet 
are perfectly willing to appropriate his ideas. Some local 
contractor will be consulted as to his ability to erect a build- 
ing like the one illustrated; he will undoubtedly assert that 
he not only can do this, but will be able to improve very 
much upon the building shown; so a contract is entered into 
with him, and the building erected by the contractor, sub- 
stantially according to his own views, not in any way as the 
structure was originally intended to be. Not only are 
changes made in the plans and elevations, but the hygienic 
and sanitary features, not being understood, are utterly dis- 
regarded; probably the building will be placed upon a site 
and with surroundings that are totally unsuitable for it, no 
thought having been given to adaptability or harmony. 

In this connection it is well to remember that a building 
to look well when completed must be designed with special 
reference to the position that it is to occupy, and that struc- 
tures which are extremely pleasing upon one site will become 
a blot upon the landscape when injudiciously placed upon 
another. 

In a practice of over twenty years I have never but once 



EEADY-MADE PLANS. - 93 

attempted to erect two buildings from identically the same 
plans, upon entirely different sites. The result in this case 
was disastrous, for the building which looked well upon the 
lot it was designed for was very unsatisfactory when erected 
on the site unsuited for it. 

Let me say just here that the great majority of the 
designs of this work have not been studied for any definite 
site or location, but are presented to illustrate certain prin- 
ciples in which I thoroughly believe. Probably there is not 
one of them but that would have to be modified to a greater 
or less degree to properly meet the requirements of a school 
or the peculiarities of its site. Modifications can undoubtedly 
be satisfactorily made in any of the designs, provided careful 
study and thought are given to the problem; but this should 
invariably be done by the creator of the design, and not by 
those who cannot be in touch with the true spirit of it. 

Ready-made plans, like ready-made clothing, never quite 
"fit, and are just as easy of detection in one case as in the 
other. It is simply a penny-wise, pound-foolish policy to 
make use of them. In the beginning money may be saved 
by not obtaining first-class professional advice, but in the 
long run this expenditure will be more than balanced by 
poor planning, careless construction, ignorance in not taking 
advantage of feasible opportunities, and a general inadapt- 
ability of the completed structure. Innumerable cases of 
this kind occur to me, and I frequently have been consulted 
in regard to buildings that it was claimed had been erected 
in strict accordance with a design of a model schoolhouse 
published in some report. It is hardly necessary to add that 
upon investigation this was not found to be the case ; radical 
departures had been made in many vitally important details, 



94 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

and the failure of the building was not due to the original 
design, but to the way it had been mutilated during its erec- 
tion by unskilled hands. 

A notable instance of an attempt to foist '* ready-made 
plans " upon school committees is that of the Department of 
Public Instruction of the State of New York. Upon applica- 
tion they will furnish free of charge to any resident of the 
State lithographic copies of plans and specifications of a 
number of school buildings, ranging in cost from six hundred 
to sixteen thousand five hundred dollars. These plans, with 
some others, have also been published in book form and cir- 
culated by the State Board of Instruction. The designs were 
obtained in the year 1888, through a competition instituted 
by the New York State superintendent of Public Instruction, 
who, on the 20th of September, 1887, issued a circular invit- 
ing the architects of the country to submit competitive plans 
and specifications for school buildings of different sizes and 
cost. The superintendent was actuated, he states, by a 
desire to supply school officials with the most modern and 
artistic designs for the erection of low-priced schoolhouses. 
Six classes of buildings were called for, and as I had on hand 
sketch-plans of buildings that very nearly fulfilled the require- 
ments of each class, I sent them in, and in January, 1888, 
was notified that I had been awarded special commendation 
in classes 3, 4, 5, and 6, this notification being accompanied 
with a request to forward at once complete working plans^ 
details, and specifications for each of the buildings; it was 
also stated that " special commendation " insured the publi- 
cation of my designs in the forthcoming report. A reply was 
immediately sent stating that I did not care to have my 
designs published and that I would not under any considera- 



READY-MADE PLANS. - 95 

tion furnish working plans, details, and specifications, and 
asking, as I had received no prize and therefore was not in 
any way indebted to the State, that my drawings be returned 
to me. This request was refused, and in spite of my 
vehement protestations my drawings were all retained and 
four of the designs published in the report. 

The State Superintendent states in the introduction to 
the report that full working drawings, details, specifications, 
directions, contracts, and builders' estimates for eleven of the 
designs presented will be forwarded upon application, free of 
charge, when the department shall be notified by the proper 
authorities that a district has voted to erect a school from 
any of the designs shown. I am glad to say that four others 
refused with me to furnish the working plans, details, and 
specifications; so that in eight instances they cannot be 
obtained except through their authors. 

The bait so temptingly offered to school committees is 
most alluring. The fact that it is possible to obtain free of 
charge working plans, details, and specifications of a model 
school building is so very satisfactory that no attention is 
given to fitness of the design selected; they are taken as 
they come, and turned over to the local builder, who, as I 
have before said, does about as he pleases with them. 

I have seen some of these buildings after completion, and 
found them so much changed and mutilated that the good 
features which they originally contained were completely 
obliterated; some I found placed in positions that completely 
ruined their architectural effect, and in no single instance did 
they come anywhere near that degree of excellence the 
designer intended to obtain. From the State Superinten- 
dent's point of view this would, of course, seem particularly 



96 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

unfortunate; but from my own it appears a just retribution. 
To me it is a most undignified proceeding for the great State 
of New York through her paid agents to be "hawking" 
architect's work and peddling out, free of charge, working 
plans of buildings that have been designed for no particular 
location, and that are to be constructed without competent 
professional advice. If a State is to pursue such a course as 
this, why confine it to school buildings ? Why not establish 
an architectural mill at Albany and grind out at short notice 
and, of course, " free of charge," plans and specifications for 
city and town halls, court-houses, churches, hospitals, 
libraries, jails, and all other public and private structures ? 
Perhaps in this way a uniform " American style of architec- 
ture " might be evolved without expense or trouble. 

As to the eight designs published without working plans, 
details, and specifications, I can say concerning my own four 
that in the past eleven years innumerable letters have been 
received inquiring my terms for furnishing that which the 
State was unable to supply. A reply was always returned 
stating that my services were at the committee's disposal, at 
the usual recognized charges, and that I should be pleased to 
serve them to the best of my ability. Although scores of 
applications have been received, in not a single instance have 
my terms been accepted. I am well aware that buildings 
have been erected from my designs, but not under my su- 
pervision nor in a way that I should recommend; and I do 
not doubt that the other gentlemen who pursued the same 
course as I have had a similar experience. I shall probably 
be accused of mercenary motives in my criticisms of the 
methods of the New York State Board of Instruction. Some 
may say that through chagrin at non-employment my judg- 



READY-MADE PLANS. ' 97 

ment is too biased to be just. To such charges I simply 
answer that the competition was entered (very foolishly, I 
admit) without expectations other than those realized, and 
that when I was honorably mentioned I was perfectly satis- 
fied, and tried in every possible way to withdraw my designs 
and let the matter drop. Furthermore, even at this late 
day I still regret exceedingly that they were published, for 
the reason that under the conditions with which they are sur- 
rounded no good can result from their continued use. Eleven 
years have elapsed since they were prepared, and I do not 
believe that there is an architect who submitted a design at 
that time who would be willing to send in the same thing 
to-day. We live in a progressive age; improvements are 
made almost yearly in everything, and the planning and con- 
struction of school buildings is no exception to this rule. 
Those things that we did with complacency yesterday will 
not satisfy us to-morrow. All of us have skeletons in our 
closet, — designs prepared or work executed which we are slow 
to acknowledge as our own. To the progressive man this 
must always be so, for he who is contented and satisfied with 
what he has done, and makes no determined effort to improve 
upon it, is a conceited sluggard who will be left stranded on 
the wayside by the steady onward march of progress. 

Do not let it be inferred that I am opposed to the publi- 
cation of designs by those interested in school matters. On 
the contrary, I am very much in favor of it when it is done 
in a legitimate manner, as I believe, if it is done judiciously, 
it would be very beneficial. If State and local Boards of 
Instruction or Health would pay reputable architects a fair 
compensation for " sketch designs," or if they must do it in 
the other way, offer suitable prizes for the best " sketch 



98 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

designs" submitted, and publish only these, clearly stating 
when they are issued that they represent at that time the 
miost advanced ideas of some of the best-known specialists in 
school construction, and giving their authors full credit for 
them, they will have taken a great stride in the direction of 
advancing the standard of excellence in the designing and 
construction of school buildings. But when they go further, 
invade the architect's domain, and attempt to furnish the 
public at large with that which it is his legitimate business to 
do, they are entirely out of their element and cannot be 
expected to obtain satisfactory results. 

I cannot understand why members of my profession 
should be foolish enough to furnish working plans, details, 
and specifications for such a purpose, which are to be repro- 
duced ad libitiivi. It seems to me to be a most impertinent 
thing to ask them to give away for a paltry consideration 
their best ideas — in fact, their stock in trade, which they have 
spent the best years of their life in acquiring. Would it be 
expected of any other professional man? I think not. Why, 
then, is the attempt made to impose on the architects and 
get them to do what would not be expected of others? 
Simply for the reason that the value of the true architect's 
services are underestimated; he is deemed a luxury, when he 
ought to be considered a necessity; the people at large have 
not learned that it is ultimately much cheaper to pay for 
first-class professional advice than it is to accept free of cost 
an inferior article. 

Ready-made working plans and specifications furnished in 
book form by the so-called architects who advertise their 
wares extensively are to be shunned even more than those 
already referred to. They are to be classed with the patent- 



READY-MADE PLANS. - 99 

medicine and other nostrums with which the country is 
flooded; and it is safe to class the authors with the quack 
doctors who perform such wonderful cures through the news- 
papers. Who ever heard of eminent physicians, lawyers, or 
engineers advertising themselves or their doings through the 
public press? When this course is taken by a member of 
either of these professions, his true status is at once deter- 
mined by his brethren: if he is truly skilful or a genius in 
his special line, he will not require printer's ink to have it 
become known; that is to say, he need not use it himself — 
his worth will be quickly recognized and full credit given 
him for his skill, perhaps not at first by the masses, but by 
those of his own craft whose opinions he most values. 

Every thinking man knows this to be true, and many are 
fully aware of it when they make use of plans prepared by 
architects who have had absolutely no training or standing in 
the profession. Why they do this is a mystery to me, unless 
it can be explained by the words of that illustrious townsman 
of mine, the famous Barnum, who always maintained that the 
American public loved to be " humbugged." 

To sum up briefly, avoid, if you would have really good 
buildings, all ready-made plans. No matter how much they 
may be recommended, have your building designed by a 
competent man to meet your wants, and with special reference 
to the position it will occupy. If you have seen some 
plan which particularly pleases you, or you know of some 
building that you think will very nearly meet your require- 
ments, call the attention of the architect you may employ 
to these points, and let him investigate them. If they are 
worthy of consideration, he will tell you so; and if they are 
essential in your new building, he can undoubtedly incor- 



lOO MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

porate them in it. But do not, under any consideration, let 
some local builder undertake to make over and improve 
some plan or building that you have in your mind; you 
can rest assured that such a course will result unsatisfactorily, 
and that when you have completed the building, it will fall 
far short of what you had expected it to be. If this course 
were to be taken with every new school building erected, 
it would quickly change their complexion, so that in the near 
future they would be fully up to the standard of our edu- 
cational systems, in fact outrank any other class of buildings 
in the country. 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



~ lOI 













MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



103 




MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. - I05 




First Story Plan 
Light Rqo/^ BviLOinG 




Se-como Story Puan- 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ENTRANCE-HALLS AND STAIRCASES. 

In former articles I have laid great stress upon the mis- 
takes usually found in this department of school construction, 
and I wish to take the subject up once again and explain 
more in detail what I have previously said, and what from 
my point of view the mistakes consist of, using, to better 
illustrate my meaning, sketches taken at random from the 
plans published in the various architectural journals of the 
day. Should any of these sketches be recognized by their 
authors, I beg of them not to consider that in making use of 
them it is my intention to reflect in any way upon their 
professional skill, but that I am simply using, perhaps in a 
very free way, existing plans to illustrate certain arrange- 
ments of halls and staircases that in my judgment are not the 
best or most satisfactory way to treat them. It is not neces- 
sary to argue that entrances should be liberal and direct, that 
the halls should lead you as quickly as possible to the stair- 
cases, and that the staircases should be well lighted, of easy 
tread and rise, and as nearly fire-proof as it is possible to make 
them. All these requirements will be readily admitted, and 
in many instances it will be confidently asserted that they 
have been fulfilled. This I do not admit, for it is very rare 

to find a fully satisfactory arrangement even in the most 

107 



108 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

expensive structures. For example, in Sketch i, Plate 23, a 
very common arrangement is shown, which is open to severe 
criticism. It is obvious that the pupils occupying the second 
floor, entering the building either at the principal doors, A A, 
or the minor ones, BB, will have to traverse more or less the 
lower halls, CCC, in order to reach the staircases, DDD, and 
in so doing either pass directly or in close proximity to the 
several room-entrances, EEE. This mingling of the pupils 
of the two floors and presumably different departments in the 
lower halls can only result in confusion and noise, which will 
be more or less augmented by the rapidity of the pupils' 
movements and the discipline to which they are subjected. 
If, as is frequently the case, the pupils of the upper floors are 
dismissed before those of the lower, they are forced to 
descend almost directly in the centre of the building and pass 
through the lower halls before they can reach the outer air; 
this cannot be accomplished noiselessly, consequently the 
occupants of the lower rooms are bound to be more or less 
disturbed. All this is objectionable and can and should be 
obviated in every well-planned structure. In Sketch 2, Plate 
23, there is indicated a somewhat different arrangement, but 
which has the same faults. Sketch 3, Plate 23, illustrates 
still another method, which is quite as unsatisfactory as either 
of the others. None of these studies is especially novel, 
nor do they differ materially from scores of buildings that can 
be found in every large community. But while I maintain 
that the arrangement of the entrances and halls is unsatisfac- 
tory, they are not, to my mind, one half as much so as the 
situation and general construction of the staircases. All of 
these are of the style known as the open stairs, in which 
newels, rails, balusters, and open wells are freely made use 



ENTRANCE-HALLS AND STAIRCASES. ' IO9 

of. I cannot too strongly condemn the introduction of this 
method of constructing staircases in school or other public 
buildings where there are to be large assemblies of people. 
At their best, they are a constant menace to life and limb; 
in the case of a sudden rush to them by the occupants of the 
upper floors, it is almost impossible to restrain the more 
impetuous from climbing over these flimsy guards in their 
efforts to get down and out. Moreover, the danger of the 
rails and balusters giving way entirely when the rush comes 
is great, as they are seldom built with sufficient stability to 
resist even a moderate pressure. I have in former articles 
repeatedly called attention to these evils, and cited one in- 
stance, in the city of New York, where a terrible disaster 
occurred in the middle of an afternoon session by which 
fifteen lives were sacrificed on just such staircases as I have 
here illustrated; this, too, when scores of people were pass- 
ing the very doors of the building, when the fire department, 
said to be the finest in the world, was called and responded 
promptly, when willing hands and stout hearts did all that 
human power could to rescue the little ones, who it is claimed 
were splendidly disciplined and had been carefully instructed 
in a fire-drill to meet just such an emergency. But of what 
avail was all this, when one, more nervous or frightened than 
the rest, lost her footing and fell headlong on that fatal stair- 
case ? Who could prevent the force of those hurrying from 
above, checked for a moment, spreading out, and in so 
spreading creating a pressure against the frail stair-rail, caus- 
ing it to give way with a crash that would have caused the 
majority of adults to lose their presence of mind ? Who can 
blame the children if they did become frenzied, and those 
above, in their mad efforts to get down, force those below 



no MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

through the fatal aperture, until they were piled in a strug- 
gling mass in the hall below, from which within a few 
minutes fifteen lifeless little bodies were taken ? This terri- 
ble disaster occurred more than a dozen years ago, but the 
fearful lesson has been almost totally disregarded. Stringent 
laws should have been enacted prohibiting the occupancy of 
any building for school purposes that was equipped with the 
open staircase, with its accompanying rails and balusters; and 
I say that it is simply criminal to permit their continual use 
and introduction into new buildings. No one will deny but 
that the disaster just referred to would have been averted had 
the staircases of that building been constructed upon safe 
principles. There are hundreds of buildings scattered all 
over this great country where the same methods of construc- 
tion have been used and where there needed only similar con- 
ditions to produce disasters as terrible as this one. If this is 
doubted, I would ask you to examine school buildings that 
you are more or less familiar with, many of them erected 
since the time mentioned, and by so doing satisfy yourself of 
the correctness of these assertions. 

It is astonishing to me that so few accidents occur, and I 
can only attribute it to the exceptional care taken by those 
in whose charge the children are placed, and to the indulgence 
of a beneficent Providence. Another strong argument against 
placing the main staircases in the central portion of the build- 
ing is the increased danger of fire to which this position ren- 
ders them liable. For good and sufficient reasons the heating 
apparatus is usually centralized. If a fire occurs, it starts 
nine times out of ten at or near the boilers or furnaces, and 
the chances are that the staircases, the principal means of 
exit, will from their situation become in an incredibly short 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



Ill 




ENTRANCE-HALLS AND STAIRCASES. ' ^S 

space of time enveloped in smoke and flame and rendered 
useless. The main avenue of escape is thus shut off, and the 
occupants of the upper floor are forced to seek an exit by 
narrow minor staircases or fire-escapes, if the building is for- 
tunate enough to be provided with them. 

I have said that I believe it is criminal to build and place 
staircases as they are found in the great mass of school build- 
ings, for there is not the slightest need of it, nor any good 
reason why they should be so constructed. It is simply the 
fault of the designer, whose ignorance or total disregard of 
the true principles of safe construction as applied to school- 
houses causes him to fall into these errors by which hundreds, 
yes, thousands of lives are continually jeopardized. Do not 
infer that I would increase the expense, sacrifice the conven. 
ience of the plan, or render the ease of entry or access to any 
part of the building more difficult by arranging the stairways 
differently; on the contrary, I would gain decidedly in these 
respects, as well as in those of sound construction and safety. 
A careful examination of the various plans shown in this work 
will, I am sure, convince any one that what I claim is both 
feasible and true. 

There can be no question as to the desirability of pro- 
hibiting the introduction of open or centrally located stair- 
cases into any school building occupied upon more than one 
floor, and it seems to me that the best way to accomplish 
these ends would be by State legislation. If a law were 
enacted making it a misdemeanor to build or equip a building 
in this manner, committees would be obliged to insist upon 
its enforcement, and the architects to govern themselves 
accordingly. If I were to draw up a code to regulate this 



114 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

matter, it would be formulated somewhat in the following 
manner: 

First. That all staircases shall be built where possible 
outside the main walls of the building. 

Second. That stairways shall be placed at both ends or 
sides of the building, so that in case of fire or accident two 
independent and isolated exits are available. 

Third. Stairways shall be of the style known as box- 
stairs, with dividing walls or partitions between the runs 
extending from floor to ceiling, and that there shall be no 
open wells, rails, or balusters allowed in any building. 

Fourth. That all stairways shall have at least one broad 
platform or landing in the height of any one story, and that 
there shall be provided, on each side of all runs, neat hand- 
rails (brass or iron preferred) that shall be supported on 
strong metal brackets, firmly bolted to the walls. 

Fifth. That no stairways shall be less than four feet wide 
in the clear, where there are more than one hundred pupils 
on a floor, and that the staircases, unless they are increased 
in number, shall be added to at the rate of one foot in width 
for each story, and six inches in width for each additional 
hundred of pupils. 

Sixth. That the main staircases in all buildings that are 
occupied upon more than one floor shall be so arranged that 
the pupils of the upper floors can enter or leave the building 
or ascend or descend through it to the toilet- and recreation- 
rooms without entering or passing through any hall or corri- 
dor of the building except that out of which their own rooms 
open. 

Seventh. That all staircases shall be well lighted by direct 
light, that the windows shall be placed upon the landings if 



EN TRA NCE-HA LLS A ND S TA IR CA SES. I I 5 

possible, and that the stools of these windows shall be at 
least four feet from the floor of the landing. 

Eighth. That all staircases shall be either fire-proof or 
constructed on the slow-burning principle. 

Build them with solid walls of common brick if you have 
little money, pressed brick if you have more, and glazed 
brick if you can afford it. Where possible, use sawed blue- 
stone or rubbed slate, built directly into the walls, for treads, 
risers, and platforms, or good smooth castings of iron; if 
these are too expensive, hard-wood stairs, made extra heavy, 
with the stringers and supports bolted directly to the walls 
with expansion-bolts, will answer the purpose. Avoid all 
studding, furring, and unnecessary sheathing, and, above all 
things, lath and plaster. Some will claim, undoubtedly, that 
the theories here advanced cannot be successfully incor- 
porated in all classes of school buildings, but I assure you 
that in all my practice I have never known of an instance 
where I could not have introduced all of the features here 
advocated. That it has not always been done in the build- 
ings entrusted to me, I am free to admit; but it could have 
been accomplished, and the reason for not doing it was 
either that I was so hampered by the committee that it was 
impossible, or that I did not have the means to build 
properly. By referring to the plates of the larger buildings 
numerous examples of staircases constructed strictly upon the 
principles here laid down will be found. If you have a 
liberal allowance of money at your disposal, use it in making 
your building safe and sound, and not in undue elaboration 
or senseless decoration. A schoolhouse, to my mind, is a 
workshop, or, as the French say, an atelier, occupied for 
a limited period only each day for mental labor more or less 



Il6 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

severe. This should be impressed as much as possible upon 
the minds of the pupils, while their surroundings should be, 
from the hygienic point of view, as perfect as possible, and 
good taste shown throughout in the furnishing and equip- 
ment. There should be no ostentation or vulgarity in orna- 
mentation or decoration, or that which is in any way liable 
to distract or permanently leave its imprint upon the mind 
of the pupil. 

School buildings, unless the gift of some individual who 
desires to perpetuate his name, are not monumental in char- 
acter; and, as they are erected by the taxation of the people 
for the use of their children, it is obvious that no more money 
should be expended upon them than is necessary to secure a 
perfect building inside and a pleasing one outside. It is a 
hard lesson for the masses to learn, but I hope some day that 
the great American public may be made to understand that 
good architecture does not consist of fantastic shapes and 
sharp contrasts, or that objects that are ornate must neces- 
sarily be artistic. For myself, I would rather see a building 
as plain as the proverbial barn, so it be well planned and 
soundly constructed, than the most elaborate edifice ever 
erected that is faulty in these respects. I should much 
prefer to obtain a reputation for the reason that I had planned 
well and constructed soundly rather than because I had 
designed cleverly and disregarded everything else. Of course 
the ideal architect is the one in whom both functions are 
happily combined, but they are like angel's visits, few and 
far between. In choosing an architect, take the practical 
man, even if you find him less artistic, for the health, com- 
fort, and safety of your children are more to you than the 
finest artistic effects. 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



117 




CHAPTER IX. 

WINDOWS AND LIGHTING. 

Probably more has been written concerning the amount 
of light required, and the way that it should be introduced 
into the schoolroom, than about any other feature of school 
construction. So voluminous and reliable is the data obtain- 
able upon this subject, that it would appear almost impossi- 
ble that mistakes could occur in this department; but upon 
critical examination it is found that the average structures are 
little better in this respect than they have been shown to be 
in the arrangements of the entrances and stairways. The 
generally accepted standard of lighting is that there must be 
an actual area of exposed glass surface that shall equal one 
sixth of the floor-space of the room ; and I believe this to be 
ample if it is arranged properly. It has been the custom of 
those best posted to introduce the light at the back and left 
of the pupils. I have in former years advocated this system ; 
but from long experience, close observation of rooms in 
actual use, and from the opinions obtained from teachers and 
pupils who have occupied the rooms, I have of late been led 
to discard where possible the back light entirely, and rely 
only upon that obtained from the left. My reasons for this 
1 will explain more fully upon subsequent pages. Before 
doing this it will be well to consider what a well-lighted room 
for school purposes should be. Unquestionably the light 

119 



I20 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

should be introduced into the room as directly as possible; as 
few obstructions should be placed in its way, in the shape of 
piers and mullions, as sound construction will allow. The 
distance it has to traverse to reach the remotest parts of the 
room should be reduced to a minimum; and I believe it 
should be concentrated at its introduction. It must not be 
assumed that because a room may have a certain number of 
windows whose combined openings equal one sixth the area 
of the floor-space it is well lighted, even when the windows 
are placed at the left and back of the pupils. This is not 
always the case, as can be seen by reference to Sketch i, 
Plate 27. 

Here we have a room 27 X 36, containing 972 square feet 
of floor-space, the room being capable of accommodating 
comfortably 48 pupils. The room is lighted by five windows: 
three on the left side of the pupils and two at their back. 
The openings through the walls are each 4' 2" Y. 8', a little 
more than one sixth of the floor-space. While the require- 
ments of position and area have in a measure been lived up 
to in this case, the windows are badly placed and the piers 
unfortunately arranged. This is equally true of the three 
rooms shown in Sketch 2, Plate 27. None of these rooms 
are well lighted, for the following pertinent reasons: 

First, the teacher from her position facing the pupils is 
forced to look directly into the light, which is extremely 
trying as well as injurious, and entirely unnecessary in a well- 
arranged room. True, it is possible to draw the shades and 
thus subdue the light, but in doing this there is a loss of 
direct light, which is detrimental to the pupils. There has 
been but one answer given by teachers when questioned as to 
this arrangement of windows, — it was found to be very objec- 



WINDOWS AND LIGHTING. J2I 

tionable; and if it were possible to obviate this evil, the 
rooms would be far pleasanter and the work of the teacher 
much easier. 

Second, that large piers or wide spans between the win- 
dows not only seriously impede the light, but that the 
shadows they cast (as can be seen by reference to Sketch 3, 
Plate 27) are so heavy as to inconvenience the pupils to a 
greater or less degree. 

If you wish to read comfortably, you will naturally seat 
yourself before or where the direct rays from the window will 
fall upon your book, and not in the heavy shadow of a large 
pier. But the pupil whose desk may unfortunately occupy 
such a position has no choice, and consequently must study 
in a poorer light than his more favored companion. 

Third, that the light should be centralized as much as 
possible, and that there should be as little obstruction 
between the windows as is consistent with sound construc- 
tion. If an artist builds a studio, he concentrates his lighting 
surface in one space, and would not tolerate piers or heavy 
muUions. It is the same in the construction of photographic 
galleries, and even in the modern factories; the whole sides 
of the structures are practically of glass. In these instances 
experience has taught the occupants that the best results can 
be obtained by this method of arranging the windows, and the 
lessons thus learned can be with advantage applied to the 
schoolroom. 

Fourth, the spaces between the windows usually occupied 
by blackboards are of little use, and the more the windows 
are divided the greater number of spaces of this kind there 
will be. If, however, the windows are grouped together on 
one side of the room, there are three sides of the room, 



122 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

minus the door openings, available for the blackboards, which 
can from their position be seen easily from any part of the 
room. 

The windows shown on the inner walls of the rooms in 
the plans of this work are invariably placed above the black- 
boards, on the same level as the transoms of the doors, and 
are of the same size and hung and operated in the same way. 
Their function is not only to light the inner halls, but in the 
warmer months, when artificial heat is not in use, to provide 
for a free circulation of air when the outer windows are opened 
a little at the top, directly across the upper part of the rooms 
and halls. 

It must be admitted that the objections here raised to the 
ordinary method of lighting are pertinent, and if they can be 
easily overcome, without unnecessary expense, can there be 
any valid reason why the ordinary method should not be dis- 
carded ? I certainly think not. It will be well, however, in 
this connection to consider still further the question of piers, 
and their effect upon the light area. It is hardly possible, 
even in the smaller brick buildings, to construct with safety 
the brick piers or mullions between windows less than twelve 
inches in width; in larger structures they need to be sixteen, 
twenty, twenty-four, twenty-eight inches, and sometimes 
piers of from three to four feet are required to obtain suf- 
ficient strength. To obviate the heavy shadows that these 
piers must cast, and to obtain the maximum strength with 
the minimum obstruction, I have recently introduced into 
my buildings, with marked success, iron mullions cast with 
heavy flanges or webs, as shown in Sketch i, Plate 28. The 
window-frames are bolted directly on to these mullions, the 
outer portions of which are made wedge-shape, running very 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. I23 




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MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



127 




WINDOWS AND LIGHTING. . 1 29 

nearly to a sharp edge. It will be readily seen that by this 
simple device very little more space is occupied by the sup- 
porting mullion or pier than that actually required by the 
frames and weight-boxes; in fact, the saving is so great that 
six windows can be introduced in the same space which would 
be occupied by five, having the ordinary 16-inch brick pier 
between them, the expense in both cases being practically 
the same. 

The strength of the mullions can be regulated by the 
thickness of the shell and web, so that, with little or no 
change of outside dimensions, they can be used to support 
almost any weight. In small frame buildings a similar 
mullion can be made of hard wood that will be strong enough 
for ordinary purposes. 

Schoolrooms shown in the majority of the plans in this 
book are constructed with this mullion between the windows, 
and they are more particularly illustrated in Sketch 2, Plate 
28. Note the size of the shadows cast from these mullions 
as compared with those cast from the piers in Sketch 3, and 
who will have the hardihood to say that the room constructed 
as shown in the latter sketch is not better lighted and a 
better room to work in than those shown in Sketches i, 2, 
and 3, Plate 27 ? I hardly believe that any one who carefully 
studies the various sketches here shown will contend that a 
schoolroom can be well lighted if it simply have windows of 
a sufficient size and number placed at random in the walls at 
the back and left of the pupils. 

About the only valid objection that can be raised to the 
massing of the windows on one side of the room is that the 
large glass surface will radiate a vast amount of cold in severe 
weather, and in this way render the seats occupied by the 



130 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

nearest pupils uncomfortable. This objection can easily be 
overcome either by the use of the double sash (which I would 
recommend in the northern portion of our country) or as 
described in the chapter devoted to heating and ventilation. 
If double sash are used, they can be fitted in the usual way 
directly to the blind-stop (Sketch 4, Plate 28). One or two 
of them in each group of windows should be hinged at the 
top and operated with a rod and suitable fastenings at the 
bottom, so that they may be readily opened for flushing pur- 
poses (Sketch 4, Plate 28). 

It may also be said that inside blinds cannot be used to 
advantage, and that the ordinary shades will not be satisfac- 
tory. As to the former of these objections, the ordinary 
inside blinds are to my mind unsuitable for use in the school- 
room; they take up too much room, are noisy, hard to 
handle, and extremely liable to get out of order. I much 
prefer good opaque shades, using two for each window, hung 
as shown in Sketch 4, Plate 28. This method of hanging 
permits the shades to be raised and lowered from the 
centre with the sashes, and prevents the flapping that is 
so annoying when the sashes are lowered from the top in 
warm weather, where the shades are hung in the ordinary 
manner. 

The exterior effect of buildings with the windows massed 
is more satisfactory to me than when they are widely sep- 
arated. Broad wall-spaces are pleasing and restful to the 
eye, and add, if skilfully handled, strength and dignity to the 
structure. Besides, the openings for staircase and for 
assembly-hall windows, which do not need to be grouped, 
combined with the entrances, and windows that may be used 
for hat-and-cloak-rooms, will certainly give a variety of line 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



I^I 




WINDOWS AND LIGHTING. .133 

and detail that will be ample to secure harmonious and artis- 
tic results. 

One other and a very important thing which must be 
remembered in figuring the lighting-surface of a room is that 
the actual openings through the wall do not represent by any 
means the true area of the glass surface. This fact is almost 
invariably lost sight of. I am frequently shown rooms in the 
best of our buildings where it is confidently asserted that 
every requirement as refers to the proper lighting has been 
complied with. "' Notice, please," the superintendent or 
principal will say, " that our rooms, that are 24 X 36 in size,, 
contain five windows, each 4 feet wide by 8 feet high, a total 
of 160 square feet ; so we are in excess of the amount needed. ' *" 
This calculation would be perfectly correct if the whole open- 
ing were available, but there must be deducted from this the 
area of the boxing, frames, and sash, as can be seen by refer- 
ence to Sketches 5 and 6, Plate 28. This is very consider- 
able, actually reducing the glass-area of each window, as they 
are ordinarily constructed, to 2^^ square feet, consequently 
five openings through the wall instead of having a lighting- 
capacity of 160 square feet have only ii6f square feet, so 
that there is really in the room seven and one half times as 
much floor-space as there is glass-surface in the windows. 
It would be well for the so-called experts in figuring lighting- 
surfaces to consider carefully these points, and to remember 
that even the size of a light does not represent its actual area 
that is exposed. If the seemingly small items were heeded, 
fewer blunders would be made. 

Deep reveals should also be avoided, and if they are 
necessitated by the thickness of the walls, should be cut back 
both on the outside and inside, as shown on Sketches 2 and 



134 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



4, Plate 28. The lintels can be treated in the same way, and 
in cases where the light is in a measure obscured by buildings 
or heavy foliage, it is not a bad plan to construct the window- 
stools in the manner shown on Sketch 4, Plate 28. 

In fact, I believe that every impediment to the direct 
entrance of the light should be as far as possible removed. 

It may be considered that I am over-zealous in this 
department of school construction, but if I do err, I certainly 
wish it to be on the safe rather than on the other side, believ- 
ing, as I do, that there is no greater blessing than good eyes; 
and noting the alarming increase of myopia among the 
younger generation, I do not believe that it is possible to be 
too careful in this respect in the construction of our school- 
rooms. 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



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CHAPTER X. 

HAT-AND-CLOAK-ROOMS.— PLAY-ROOMS. 

It is essential that in every school building ample provision 
should be made for the convenient hanging of the pupil's 
outer garments, during the sessions, in some kind of a ward- 
robe or room. Too often far too little thought or study is 
given to these very important adjuncts of the schoolroom. 
Frequently they are worked into the plan in most undesirable 
locations, and, as a rule, they are too contracted; indeed, I 
frequently find them so cramped that confusion and crowding 
are unavoidable when the children are dismissed and attempt 
to secure their clothing. Three methods are in common use 
at the present time for the reception of clothing. The first, 
and decidedly the poorest, of these is the concentration of all 
the garments in one or more large rooms, usually situated in 
the basement of the building. Children entering the building 
pass into this room, leave their wraps and ascend to their 
several classrooms. At dismissal the same routine, in a 
reverse order, is gone through. This arrangement is very 
objectionable to me — the gathering of the garments of 
hundreds of pupils from scores of different localities and con- 
ditions in one room, where they must be placed in close 
proximity to each other, is certainly a very dangerous pro- 
cedure; if not decidedly unsanitary, the spread of contagious 
139 



140 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

diseases is certainly invited, and the seeds of serious epidemics 
are likely to be sown. The objections cited in the chapter 
devoted to entrance-halls and staircases, whereby the pupils 
from various parts of the building are forced to pass through 
several halls, apply with equal force to this arrangement of 
the cloak-rooms. And it must be remembered that pupils 
from different portions of the building, dismissed at or about 
the same time, will come together with a rush in the base- 
ment at a point far removed from the watchful teacher's eye. 
They are bound to be, at this time, in a hurry, and a wild 
scramble ensues that is anything but beneficial to discipline, 
and seriously detrimental to clothing. 

More serious than either of the above-mentioned ob- 
jections is that of thieving. Principals of large schools 
have repeatedly stated to me that it was almost impossible to 
prevent it when the clothing was all placed together. To 
such an extent did this evil exist that in some instances it 
had been necessary to employ the police to suppress it. 
True, it was found upon investigation in many cases that the 
theft was purely imaginary, the child having in fact lost the 
article before entering the building, and upon missing it at 
the close of the session, quickly assumed that it had been 
stolen. In the majority of cases, however, there was just 
cause for complaint, as there was no doubt that clothing was 
systematically purloined. Surely, if these conditions exist, 
it would be well to remove, as much as possible, their primary 
cause, and prohibit in new buldings the " general cloak- 
room." 

In some instances individual lockers have been introduced 
into the large basement cloak-rooms, each locker being pro- 
vided with a key or combination lock, the janitor having a 



HAT-AND-CLOAK-ROOMS.—PLA Y-ROOMS. -I4I 

master-key; this system will prevent thieving, but it is 
expensive and costly to maintain, as the locks are continually 
out of order and cumbersome and complicated in operation. 
The average scholar, when through with the session's duties, 
desires to get out of the building as quickly as possible, and 
when required to descend into the basement, unlock or work 
the combination of a lock, is irritated and impatient, and the 
chances are that the operation will not be gone through with- 
out noise, confusion, and a possible mishap to the lock. 
While I have never used this system, it certainly does not 
appeal to me, and I should be very loth to make use of it 
except perhaps in a high- or normal-school building. 

The one or more small rooms connected directly with 
each schoolroom are the most common form of cloak-rooms, 
and possess decided advantages over methods just described. 
The main objection to them is their restricted size (the space 
which they occupy being too valuable to be lavishly used), 
and, if they are properly constructed with windows, the space 
on the outer walls occupied by them could be used to better 
advantage. Usually, too, these rooms are hard to heat and 
ventilate. Their multiplicity complicates the heating system 
badly and adds very materially to the cost of construction 
and maintenance. If, however, they are well placed they are 
convenient. The principal cause of thieving is removed, as 
they are under almost constant surveillance, and the detec- 
tion of wrongdoers is comparatively easy. 

For a number of years I have made use of the partitioned 
hat-and-cloak-rooms placed in the main halls of the buildings, 
as shown on the majority of the plans in this work. This 
device has been thoroughly described on other pages, and it 
is not necessary to enlarge upon it here. 



142 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

This arrangement of the clothing receptacles has many 
good and some bad features. They occupy a portion of the 
building that is not especially valuable; they are handy and 
easy of access; they can be heated and ventilated with the 
main halls without complicating the apparatus; and, as they 
are entirely open at the top and do not run to the floor, there 
is a free circulation of air through them. On the other hand, 
as there are two provided for each room, more or less confu- 
sion is caused by the pupils entering and leaving them. 
When I have tried to obviate this by the use of additional 
doors, I have not only added to the expense of the building, 
but rather increased the noise and confusion. The greatest 
objections, however, to these rooms come from the teachers, 
who complain that the unruly urchin, being necessarily out 
of their sight for a few moments, inside of the partitions when 
in quest of his clothing, can create a vast amount of disorder 
which it is almost impossible to prevent. This fault can 
largely be done away with by constructing the upper portions 
of the coat-room of heavy wire netting, so that a fairly clear 
view could be had at all times of their interior. I have 
tried several times to introduce this feature, but have never 
yet succeeded in convincing a building committee of its prac- 
tical utility. (See Sketch 3, Plate 31.) 

From my own point of view I object to this method of 
construction on account of its unsightliness, while the 
utility and sanitary features appeal to me. I must con- 
fess that I have never yet succeeded in making it either 
attractive or artistic. It is usually a blot in what would 
be a well-proportioned and spacious hall without its pres- 
ence. Should the wire netting be introduced, I fear it 
would give the appearance of a menagerie; in fact, one of 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. J43 



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HAT-AND-CLOAK-ROOMS.— PLAY-ROOMS. . I45 

my jovial friends once called these enclosures kennels, and 
with some degree of propriety. 

The query naturally arises, As none of these devices 
are commended, what is the satisfactory solution of the 
problem ? To me it is the construction of the large halls 
in the same way as if the partitioned rooms were to be 
used, but entirely omit the partitions, using only the side walls 
of the halls for hanging purposes. Examples of what I mean 
will be seen on Plate 31, Sketch 2. A teacher standing any- 
where in the hall near her room-door has her entire class 
under surveillance; there is plenty of room for all clothing on 
the side walls; the heating and ventilation are easily accom- 
plished; there is a large saving of expense in construction; 
and the architectural effect of the hall is maintained. 

I have introduced this method into one or two school 
buildings with marked success (the idea was orginally sug- 
gested by the progressive Superintendent of Schools of the 
city of Yonkers), and I can see no valid objection to it. The 
only one raised, as far as I know, is that the clothes are un- 
sightly in the hall, to which I reply that the schoolhouse is 
not an art-gallery but a workshop, and if the aesthetic senses 
of our sensitive people are prostrated by the view of 
children's outer garments hung neatly upon the wall, they 
had better stay out of the building, I have used the expres- 
sion "neatly hung" advisedly, for clothing placed in this 
position would be constantly under the teacher's inspection; 
carelessness would at once be detected and corrected, and the 
child would almost unconsciously acquire orderly habits. 

This method of caring for the clothing is one of great 
simplicity, and has none of the objections raised to others. 
Naturally one is apt to be prejudiced against almost any 



146 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

innovation, but where it has been tried it has not been 
found wanting; and until sonne better device presents 
itself, I most heartily commend it to those who desire a con- 
venient, simple, and thoroughly hygienic system. 

A more elaborate plan based upon the same principles is 
shown in Sketch 3, Plate 31. This gives to each pupil a sep- 
arate compartment, with space for overshoes below, and a 
shelf above upon which hats may be laid; the latter being 
especially useful for the girls. There is also a place for 
umbrellas which necessitates a drip-trough underneath. Of 
course this system is much more expensive, but it has the 
advantage of a certain amount of exclusiveness, and, when the 
necessary funds can be obtained, is probably the best-known 
solution of the problem. 

PLAYROOMS. 

I believe good playrooms are absolutely necessary in every 
well-equipped school building. Manual training is becoming 
a most important feature in school life; and if we recognize 
its usefulness, we must provide suitable rooms in which it can 
be successfully taught. In all the buildings shown in this 
work, playrooms will be found ; usually they are placed in 
the basement; sometimes on the top stories or roof; in any 
case they should be large, well lighted, and amply ventilated; 
when possible there should be windows on two or more sides, 
so that they may be thoroughly flushed by the outer air. It 
is not necessary that these rooms be heated to over 60°; in 
fact, it is better that the temperature should be at a much 
lower point than in the schoolrooms. These rooms are 
intended to exercise in, and the pupils, during the limited 
time that they have, should be impressed with the necessity 



HA T-A ND -CLOAK-RO OMS. —FLA YR O OMS. - 1 47 

of exercising as much as possible. Side walls of these rooms 
are best of brick laid Vv'ith struck joints and thoroughly 
painted some light, neutral tint; for the floors I have found 
a good quality of half-hard asphalt the most satisfactory; and 
for the ceilings nothing is better than "stamped metal"; 
this can be painted to harmonize with the side walls, produc- 
ing a light, airy room that is not easily damaged. 

For the heat required, I have used successfully return coil- 
pipes ]iiing just below the ceiling; in this position they are out 
of the pupil's reach, do not occupy floor-space, and give all 
the heat required. 

In close connection with the playrooms, if they are 
situated in the basement, in our latest building it has been 
found necessary to introduce bicycle-rooms. These, it must 
be understood, are not intended to ride or exercise in, but 
simply for the proper storage of wheels during the time the 
pupils may be occupied in the building. 

There should be one of these rooms for each sex, and, if 
possible, they should be placed near, or in connection with, 
the playrooms; that is, when the latter are situated in the 
basement of the building. The general construction and 
finish of these rooms should conform with that of the play- 
rooms; in fact, in some cases, they may simply be a part of 
these rooms partitioned off by a heavy wire screen running 
from floor to ceiling. Wherever they are placed, they should 
be in direct or nearly direct access with the outside; and 
there should be arranged, if they are situated above or below 
the grade, a suitable enclosed " run," up and down which 
the wheels may easily be trundled. 

Rooms of this kind must be so arranged that they can be 
securely locked during sessions; this is absolutely neces- 



148 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

sary, not only to prevent actual thieving, but also a system 
of "borrowing" a wheel for an hour or so without the 
owner's knowledge which was found to exist in one large 
building. Pupils without wheels would get dismissed for 
some trivial cause, secure a wheel and ride till just before the 
close of the session, and then return it to its place; usually 
these stealthy expeditions were not beneficial to the wheels. 
Give plenty of space to these rooms — all you can spare; 
don't be afraid of getting them too large, for it is astonishing 
how many wheels, even in the poorer districts, are ridden to 
the school building. 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. - 149 




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CHAPTER XI. 

HEATING AND VENTILATION. 

However well our building may be planned, constructed,, 
and lighted, if the heating and ventilation system is not suc- 
cessful, it will be unsatisfactory when occupied. No other 
portion of school construction requires closer attention or 
more careful study than this, and there will be found an 
immense amount of printed matter relative to the subject, in 
the shape of essays, circulars, and advertisements, a greater 
portion of which is of questionable merit. This being mainly 
due to the tremendous competition existing between the 
various firms either directly or indirectly interested in the 
manufacture and erection of heating and ventilating appa- 
ratus. To such an extent has this rivalry been carried, that 
seme firms make a practice of issuing illustrated volumes in 
which are depicted in flaming colors the perfect working of 
their apparatus and the astounding result which may be ob- 
tained by the use of their goods and systems. 

One enterprising and supposedly reputable firm has gone 
so far as to appropriate and publish in its catalogue, with- 
out my knowledge or consent, the cuts used to illustrate the 
series of experiments made with a model, when the heating 
and ventilating system of the Bridgeport high-school was 

155 



156 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

being studied in 1879. These cuts were first published in 
the Report of the Connecticut State Board of Health for that 
year, and are reproduced in the articles on the Bridgeport 
high-school (Plate 43 of this work). The firm in question 
first made use of the cuts in a catalogue issued some eight or 
ten years ago, and at that time gave me credit for them; but 
in subsequent catalogues not only has my name been omitted, 
but the statement of when and where the experiments were 
made as well. They now appear in color, with this note 
printed under them: "Illustrating a series of experiments 
made to determine the direction of air-currents with inlets 
and outlets, located as indicated, which since has been veri- 
fied many times by practical experience." 

About two years ago an agent of this company came into 
my ofifice, and was very anxious to introduce their system in 
a large school building I was about to erect. He opened his 
catalogue at the page where the cuts mentioned were printed 
to show me how their system worked and to what pains they 
had been to perfect it. I asked, " Where did your firm 
obtain the data for these illustrations?" He answered, 
*' Our engineers have been making extensive and elaborate 
experiments for a number of years past and these cuts show 
the results of their investigations." " Are you quite sure," 
said I, " that the cuts originated with them ? " " Most cer- 
tainly they did," he replied; " why do you ask such a ques- 
tion ?" In reply I took down a volume of the Connecticut 
State Board of Health Report for 1879, before referred to, 
and turning to my article, asked him to examine critically the 
cuts there shown, and say if they were not identically the 
same as his firm were now making use of. After examination 
he had to admit that they were, but assured me that his firm 



HEATING AND VENTILATION. 157 

was not aware that they were my work, for if it had been it 
would not have made use of them without my knowledge and 
consent, and would have given me full credit for them. His 
people had been shamefully imposed upon by their engineers. 
He should consider it his duty to bring it to their immediate 
attention and have the matter righted without delay. In 
reply to this oration I produced one of their earlier cata- 
logues, in which I was given credit for the cuts, and in which 
my article was quoted at some length, and asked him how he 
accounted for that. I must confess that I was sorry for the 
man, as he had evidently been sincere in what he had said, 
and was now so utterly taken aback as to be practically 
speechless. He could only offer the most profuse apologies, 
and assure me of his individual innocence. He declared he 
would communicate with his firm and ask for an explanation. 
Whether he did this I do not know, as I have never seen 
another of their representatives. 

I have mentioned this incident simply to show to what 
ends supposedly reputable firms will go to introduce and sell 
their wares. Agents will strenuously contend that the boiler, 
radiator, or fan that they may represent will do almost double 
the amount o[ work of any other in the market, and that their 
system is absolutely the only one with which one can success- 
fully heat and ventilate a building. Of course this is all non- 
sense; but so persistent are their drummers that in many 
instances they not only obtain great influence over members 
of committees, but frequently lead them to believe that what 
they say is true. It should be remembered that there are 
scores of first-class boilers, radiators, and fans manufactured, 
any one of which- when properly set and operated will give 
the desired results. It is absurd to claim that the goods of 



158 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



one firm are so vastly superior to those of any other, when in 
point of fact there is Httle to choose between them. And it 
is the same with the best-known automatic systems of heat- 
ing and ventilation ; they are all very nearly alike, and when 
equipped and handled understandingly are capable of doing- 
excellent work. Beware, then, of the people who assert that 
one cannot obtain good results unless their goods are used. 
Rest assured that when such claims are made, it is for the 
purpose of preventing honest competition and debarring 
firms from submitting estimates who have apparatus or sys- 
tems which are just as good, if not better. 

I am not in favor of receiving independent estimates from 
various firms for their own special style of apparatus and 
system of heating. If this course is adopted, it is simply 
impossible to judge understandingly between the different 
bids received; each will specify special wares and claim that 
its fixtures, workmanship, etc., are so much better than 
another's that its bid alone should be considered. This 
will surely result in mystification and confusion, and is quite 
likely to obtain for a firm with a really inferior system the 
execution of the contract. A far better way is to decide at 
the outset the method of heating and ventilation intended to 
be used, and then employ some competent heating expert to 
prepare a complete set of working plans and specifications for 
it, submit these to the various firms who desire to estimate, 
and make them in their estimates live up to the requirements. 
In this way bids for the same class and quality of work 
will be obtained which can be accurately compared, and the 
contract awarded with judgment to the lowest satisfactory 
bidder. 

As to which method of heating I prefer, long experience 



HEATING AND VENTILATION. 159 

enables me to say with decision that under the varying 
climatic conditions which we encounter I believe steam to be 
the best medium for all classes of school buildings, and that 
the automatic system is preferable and more economical in 
the majority of cases than the fan system. Simplicity is 
desirable in all things, and nowhere more so than in a heat- 
ing and ventilating plant. The men, as a class, who have 
the care of a school heating plant are not of a very high order 
of intelligence; consequently the more complicated the 
apparatus, the less likely they are to comprehend it. Too 
often they will condemn that which they fail to understand, 
when if they could master readily the true principles of the 
plant they would have no trouble with it. In recommending 
the use of steam, it must be understood that I am advocating 
the indirect and not the direct method; the latter being 
made use of only as an auxiliary in extreme cases, where very 
large glass surfaces or unusual exposure may make it neces- 
sary. 

The system that I have used for the past eighteen years 
is that which has come to be known as the Wheeler system, 
so called for the reason that in 1879 the Hon. Nathaniel 
Wheeler, President of the Wheeler & Wilson Company of 
Bridgeport, and then a member of the local Board of Educa- 
tion, became deeply interested in the proper heating and 
ventilating of our city schools. He came to me with certain 
ideas that he had, and together we developed and worked out 
the system as it is now used, Mr. Wheeler paying all the ex- 
penses of models and of a long series of experiments. In 
1883 he patented the system, not to secure pecuniary benefit 
from it, but to prevent any one who was engaged in trade or 
manufacture from patenting and controlling it. He used to 



l6o MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

remark that he believed it was the best-known automatic 
system of heating and ventilation, and he desired that any 
one who wished to use it could do so without restraint. The 
system in question has nothing especially novel in it. It was 
really the ingenious application of old and well-known prin- 
ciples. A device by which the heat-generating surface for 
each room could be concentrated and controlled, and the 
centralization of the entire heating-surface of the building at 
or near its centre, were its principal features. 

The introduction of the warm pure air at a considerable 
height from, and its removal at, the floor-level upon the same 
side of the room were well and favorably known. Moran had 
made use of a similar device in the Hotel Dieu, Paris, France, 
years before; and Morel Wyman, in a " Practical Treatise on 
Ventilation," published in 1846, on page 118, commends 
such an arrangement of the flues. 1 do not doubt that many 
other examples could be found. The insulation of the 
entire heating-surface required for a room, its enclosure in a 
metal jacket connected directly with the room by a large- 
sized pipe, and the subdivision of this heating-surface into 
three or more parts were, I believe, at that time new. By 
this arrangement we were enabled to supply any room with 
the same volume of air at all times, the temperature of the 
room being regulated by the temperature of the entering pure 
warmed air, which in turn was controlled and regulated by 
the use of one or more of the sections of the heating-surface, 
as the outer temperature might require; or, to speak more 
plainly, the pure cold air introduced below the coil- or section- 
boxes at all times passed directly through the entire heating- 
surface, the degree to which it was heated being regulated by 
the use of one, two, or three sections of the heating-surface. 






HEATING AND VENTILATION. '161 

It is desirable under almost every condition to " group " all 
the heating-surface required for a building, and to enclose 
it in heating-chambers, constructed of brick, as centrally 
located as is possible, and as far away from the cold outer 
walls as the construction of the building will allow. Coil- 
boxes containing the heating-surfaces are placed at the 
bottom of the ventilation-flues in the heating-chambers, and 
the metal inlet-pipes running from these boxes to the several 
rooms pass directly through these flues. This arrangement 
renders the system perfectly automatic, for the reason that 
the moment that heat is introduced into the coil-boxes and 
the warm air commences to pass through the coils and ascend 
through the metal inlet-pipes on its way to the rooms, heat 
is of course radiated from them, and, the air of the ventilat- 
ing-flues being in this way warmed, a strong upward draught 
is produced, which sucks the colder impure air through the 
outgoing registers, situated at the floor-level of the several 
rooms and halls. With the addition of a suction-coil placed 
near the top of the ventilating-flues, I have found that the 
heat generated from the coil-boxes and inlet-pipes is sufUcient 
to obtain very satisfactory results; in fact, this is all that is 
necessary under ordinary conditions. 

This system is extremely simple, easy to construct and 
maintain, and comparatively inexpensive, as it has no highly 
finished work, patented contrivances, or special fixtures about 
it. Any well-made boiler or radiator may be used with equal 
facility, and it can be erected successfully by a good local 
steam-fitter if he will simply follow the drawings, specifica- 
tions, and instructions given him. 

The success or failure of such an apparatus does not 
depend upon elaborate detail or finish, but upon the careful 



l62 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

proportioning of the incoviing and outgoing Jlues, their relative 
positio7i, and tJie amount of heating-stirfaee required for each 
particular room. All of these details are of the most vital 
importance. I have been astonished to find how seriously 
even a slight departure from formulas which experiments have 
proved to be correct will affect the working of an apparatus, 
and how necessary it is to understandingly guard against con- 
ditions that may be at variance with those usually encoun- 
tered. The margin between success and failure is not large 
enough to be carelessly considered, much less ignored. 
Many really good plants have failed to do their work because 
some of the minor details were not properly looked after, and 
innumerable others could be made to do far better work if 
every available condition had been made use of. There is 
apt to be far too much guesswork used in the erection of the 
ordinary plant; even when a good set of plans and specifica- 
tions are procured, they are not alwaj^s carefully followed. 
This is especially true when the work is executed without 
supervision. At times I have had the greatest difficulty in 
getting contractors to work closely to my drawings, when 
they happened to be, in detail, at variance with what they 
were accustomed to do. So attached to certain methods do 
some mechanics become that it requires the greatest amount 
of patience and firmness to get them out of their well-worn 
ruts into the paths you wish them to follow. But when you 
do succeed in getting an intelligent workman to understand 
the principles of the system and to comprehend the results 
that it will produce, he is very apt to become enthusiastic 
over it, and to err in this way to the extent of claiming for it 
impossibilities. 

It is quite as difficult to get a janitor to run an apparatus 



HEATING AND VENTILATION. " 163 

as it was designed to be run after it has been completed: 
they are inclined to be stubborn and exasperating in the 
extreme; they will not give either the fire or heating-surfaces 
the attention which they require, or regulate properly 
the supply of cold air furnished, which varies continually 
under our constant climatic changes. To save themselves a 
little trouble the apparatus is "set" in a certain way and 
used week in and week out, no matter what the changes in 
the outside temperature may be. They cannot in the 
majority of cases be made to understand that a good heating 
and ventilating apparatus is really a piece of machinery and 
must be treated and handled as such, not left to its own 
devices. Occasionally men are found who are reliable and 
willing; such men in a very short time master the apparatus 
in all its details, and by running it in an intelligent manner 
secure from it the best possible results with little or no 
trouble. 

In a certain well-known structure there was a man of this 
kind employed as janitor, who for ten years ran the apparatus 
most successfully. Under his management the school build- 
ing obtained the name of being one of the best heated and 
ventilated structures in the country. Suddenly a change in 
administration occurred and a new janitor was secured; the 
next fall the moment the apparatus was started there was 
trouble, which increased to such an extent that about the 
middle of the winter some rooms of the building had to be 
closed, as they could not be properly heated. My attention 
having been called to the matter by an interested friend, 
I quietly investigated it, and was quickly convinced that the 
entire fault was with the janitor, who was simply letting the 
apparatus take care of itself. 



164 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

Shortly after this I was summoned to appear before the 
Board of Education, the complexion of which had entirely 
changed during the ten years that had intervened between 
the completion of the building and the trouble with the 
apparatus. In answer to numerous questions, I afifirmed that 
there was nothing wrong with the, apparatus, but that the 
trouble was wholly with the man who was in charge of it. 
This was quickly refuted by one gentleman in particular, whom 
I afterwards found to be a relative of the janitor, it being 
claimed that the new man was a great improvement on the 
old. " This may be all perfectly true, gentlemen," said I, 
" but if it is so, will you kindly explain why it is that an 
apparatus that is in most excellent repair and that has for the 
past ten years given the best of satisfaction, suddenly and 
without any known reason utterly fails to do its work. No 
changes have been made in it or the building; the fuel and 
general conditions are identically the same, and yet you con- 
demn the system and are thinking seriously of changing it. 
Consider this matter well before you decide to take it out; 
and, above all, convince yourselves that I am in error in my 
statements before going further." This reasoning was so 
logical that it was impossible to ignore it, and so the new 
janitor was taken to task and given to understand that if he 
could not run the apparatus satisfactorily some one would be 
employed who could. This episode occurred over six years 
ago; since that time there has been no further complaint, 
although the same man still holds the position. 

I am sorry to have to say that I have quite as much 
trouble with the principals and teachers as with the janitors. 
At times it has seemed to be impossible to prevent their 
doing just what they ought not to do. I have had more than 



HEATING AND VENTILATION. 1 65 

once to remove the fans entirely from both the incoming and 
outgoing registers, for the reason that I could not make 
teachers comprehend that by the closing of one or the other 
they seriously interfered with the free working of the system; 
that all it was necessary for them to do when the room 
became too warm or too cold was to notify the janitor, who 
would at once regulate the temperature of the incoming air,, 
and consequently that of the room. Instead of doing this, 
they will insist upon closing the incoming-registers and open- 
ing the windows when the room was too warm, or closing the 
outlet-registers when it was too cold, — one course being quite 
as bad as the other. In the first instance the supply of pure,, 
warmed incoming air is shut off entirely, and the room and 
its occupants quickly chilled by the rush of cold air through 
the open windows; in the second, the exit of the foul air is 
stopped and the entering warmed air banks up until the 
pressure of air within the room becomes so great as to practi- 
cally stop its entrance. It should be borne in mind that it is 
impossible to bring large quantities of air into a room unless 
there are ample provisions made for its rapid removal. I 
have frequently had teachers explain, when the outlet-regis- 
ters have been found partly closed, " We keep them that way 
purposely; if we did not, all the heat would go up the 
flue! " In one instance, where remonstrances were found to 
be useless, an areometric test was made to show how vitally 
necessary it was to keep all the registers wide open. The 
results, which were extremely interesting and convincing,, 
were as follows: Outside temperature, 18°; wind light from 
the N.E. ; temperature of air at the inlet-registers, 125°; 
quantity admitted, 27 cubic feet per minute for each of the 
fifty occupants; temperature at breathing-level, 70". Both 



l66 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

the supply and temperature were easily maintained when all 
the registers were kept wide open; but under the same con- 
ditions, with one half of the outlet closed, the result was: 
Temperature of air at inlet, 125°; quantity entering, 16 cubic 
feet per minute for each occupant; temperature at breathing- 
level averaging 65°. It was found extremely difficult to 
maintain an even temperature during the hours in which the 
test was made, there being a fluctuation of 10°. When the 
outlet-registers were entirely closed the flow of incoming air 
varied from 5 to 8 cubic feet per minute for each occupant, 
and it was impossible to maintain a temperature of over 60° 
in the room. Demonstrations of this kind are so conclusive 
that it would seem incredible that they should be ignored; 
yet in the very room in which these tests were made I after- 
wards found the registers closed and the windows open ! 

One inlet- and one outlet-flue are all that are usually 
necessary in the ordinary-sized room. Additional flues either 
for the incoming or outgoing air only mean complication, 
which should be avoided. All flues should be placed upon 
the protected inner walls of the building, never on the 
exposed outer walls. The amount of heat lost by placing 
the pipes or flues in the latter position is enormous, and an 
immense amount of fuel will be consumed in the effort to 
force warm pure air through or to take foul air out of flues 
in exposed positions. The exact position that the flues 
should occupy in the room, that is to say, on which side or 
end they should be placed, is immaterial, and may be varied 
as the construction of the building may demand, provided 
always they are near together, never contracted, or built 
otherwise than straight and direct. Crooked or irregular 
inlet-pipes or outlet-flues must be avoided if you would 



HEATING AND VENTILATION. ' l6y 

obtain good results. Bring the warm pure air into, and 
remove the impure air from, the building as quickly and 
directly as possible. This is a golden rule that should be 
rigidly enforced. 

I cannot too strongly condemn the practice of scattering 
the inlet- and outlet-registers all around the room, and of 
extending inlet- and outlet-pipes in irregular and erratic lines 
to some central point. Systems constructed in this way will 
never work uniformly. Some pipes and registers will do 
better than others; in fact, those situated in particularly 
exposed positions will do little or no work, and ultimately 
become simply receptacles for dust and vermin. 

The system once so much in vogue, but now, I am glad 
to say, rapidly being discarded, of exhausting the foul air 
through small ducts beneath the upper floor, is one of the 
worst devices ever introduced into a school building, and 
should never have been tolerated. I am also opposed to the 
system that collects all the foul air of the building and carries 
it by various ducts down through it to one central receptacle 
in the basement before starting it on its final upward and out- 
ward journey. I can see no good reason why the foul air 
should first be carried down and then up, and made to 
meander through the building in more or less intricate 
passages. Surely this cannot be done without the expensive 
construction of suitable ducts, and there must also be em- 
ployed some mechanical device to produce a steady draft. 
This cannot be accomplished without power, which means 
additional expenditure for fuel and attendance. If a quantity 
of air is required in the basement, it can easily be obtained 
from the cold-air inlets, and it is not necessary to bring it 
down through two or three stories. 



l68 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

Flues for both the incoming and the outgoing air should 
be very large, those for the outlets at least twice the area of 
the inlets; this latter point must be insisted upon, as it is of 
paramount importance. Registers should have an actual area 
of openings through which the air passes considerably larger 
than the full capacity of the inlet pipe, and I prefer to have 
the registers without fans, for the reasons before stated. 

In unusually exposed rooms, in some exceptionally cold 
localities, it may be found necessary to provide some direct 
heat upon the cold outer wall. When this is found necessary, 
my preference is for the simple return-coil placed directly 
under the windows and running their entire length. These 
coils can be " set back" in a tin or galvanized-iron recep- 
tacle, with register-plates screwed in position over them; this 
will cover up their unsightliness and remove them from the 
aisle, where they would be more or less in the way. The cost 
of this method is little more than when the ordinary radiator 
is used and is much more satisfactory. 

In some instances it will be necessary to use forcing- or 
suction-fans, although in the great majority of cases their use 
can be dispensed with. If their use is required, there is noth- 
ing about the system which I have described that will inter- 
■fere in the least with their proper operation. In isolated cases 
where I have used them, the capacity or principles of con- 
struction here advocated have not been changed. The only 
thing that I have had to guard against is the noise produced 
by the rapid motion of the fans, which causes a buzzing or 
humming that is transmitted through the inlet-pipes to the 
rooms. To sensitive persons this is extremely disagreeable; 
in some cases so much so as to become almost unbearable. If 
the fans are to be used, every precaution should be taken to 



HEATING AND VENTILATION. ' 1 69 

have them plaeed as far as possible from the inlet-registers, and 
they should be set upon the solidest of foundations, to reduce 
their vibration to a minimum. With the suction-fans, which 
will presumably be placed in the outlet-ducts at the top of 
the building, less trouble will be had; but they should be so 
situated as to be easily accessible for oiling and repairs. Of 
course power of some kind must be used to propel the fans; 
and this means either a small engine in the building or the 
use of electricity obtained from the outside. In either case 
it will increase the expense of running the building unneces- 
sarily, I think, except in very large structures. 

It must also be remembered that to properly heat and 
ventilate a building a large amount of fuel will have to be 
consumed. This fact is too often lost sight of, and after a 
plant has been run for a season it is condemned as an extrava- 
gant luxury, no matter how well it may have done its work. 
A room 27' X 36' X 13' contains 12,536 cubic feet of air. 
An ordinary cylinder-stove placed in the room will very 
quickly heat the amount of air it contains to 70° at the 
breathing-level, but to bring into and remove from this room 
27 cubic feet of warmed pure air per minute for each of its 
fifty occupants means the handling and heating to a degree 
sufificient to maintain a temperature of 70° at the breathing- 
line of 81,000 cubic feet of air per hour for each room of the 
building, or a reheating of all the air the room originally 
contained over six times an hour; when these indisputable 
facts are thoroughly understood, it will be seen that it would 
be impossible to heat such enormous quantities of air unless 
there were a large consumption of fuel. I firmly believe that 
money used in this way is well spent and that it is the poorest 
kind of economy to attempt to deprive our children of fresh. 



170 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

pure air and comfortable rooms to study in. Far cheaper it 
is to be taxed for the maintenance of good school buildings 
than to pay individual doctors' bills. I wish it were in my 
power to make the average taxpayer believe this, but alas for 
the perversity of human nature, I am more often criticised 
than praised for my efforts in the behalf of good ventilation. 
To sum up briefly, I believe there is not the slightest 
difficulty in heating and ventilating any school building in a 
perfectly satisfactory manner by a simple, comparatively 
inexpensive, automatic system which is easily handled and 
maintained, and that as a rule the less complicated the 
apparatus is the better the results obtained from it will be. 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



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MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



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MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. ~ 1 75 



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CHAPTER XII. 

SANITARY ARRANGEMENT. 

I DO not propose under this head to discuss the various 
systems for the disposal of sewage that are in vogue, or to 
advocate any special style of fixtures, but rather to consider 
briefly the position that the pupils' toilet-rooms should 
occupy in the building and what bearing their location may 
have upon the comfort and health of the occupants. 

At the outset I shall insist that wherever they may be 
placed they must be conveniently located, and if isolated 
from the building connected with it by enclosed halls or pasc- 
ivays, so that the pupils shall not be exposed to the elements 
in passing to and from them. 

There can be no insurmountable difficulty in making this 
provision in a building without interfering with its general 
utility or causing an unusual expense. It is simply a humane 
measure, usually neglected, but which I contend is essential 
to the health of the pupils; for it is certainly an unnecessary 
hardship to compel any child to leave a warm schoolroom and 
traverse a bleak yard in all kinds of weather. 

As to the expediency of placing the pupils' toilet-rooms 
in the basement of the main building, in the basement of 
wings outside of intervening halls, in isolated buildings more 

or less removed from the main structure, or to subdivide 

177 



178 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

them and place a certain number on each floor, there is a 
variety of opinions. Certainly the least desirable of any of 
these positions is that where they are placed directly under 
the schoolrooms. This cannot always be avoided, and in 
some of the plans shown they will be found in this position; 
but where they occur in such a position it is because the 
exigencies of the problem allow of no other feasible solution. 

When this arrangement becomes imperative, every pre- 
caution must be taken not only with the fixtures, but in the 
construction of the rooms, to have them as nearly perfect 
from a sanitary standpoint as possible, and eternal vigilance 
must be exercised after their completion to keep them in 
first-class condition. If this is done the danger from con- 
tamination may be reduced to a minimum, but never quite 
obliterated. 

Some will claim that this or that system can and has been 
introduced and used in a building in the position under dis- 
cussion, with perfectly satisfactory results. Any such state- 
ment I seriously question. In my varied experiences I have 
never found toilet-rooms placed under schoolrooms that did 
not after a time become objectionable, and the longer they 
continued in use the more cause there was for complaint; 
and I don't see how it could possibly be otherwise. It is 
true that just after the rooms were completed and when they 
had been used but a short time I have found everything satis- 
factory, but upon visiting the same buildings three, five, or 
ten years later I have invariably found the conditions any- 
thing but what they should be, and this, too, without the 
inmates having the slightest conception that they were living 
in an unwholesome atmosphere. We are largely creatures of 
habit, and it is surprising to observe how quickly we become 



SANITARY ARRANGEMENT. . 179 

accustomed to our surroundings. That which may be terribly 
obnoxious if suddenly thrust upon us is taken almost uncon- 
sciously in homoeopathic doses. In fact, so hardened do our 
senses become to unsanitary conditions that it is frequently 
extremely difificult to make the occupants of a building fully 
realize the dangerous conditions with which they are sur- 
rounded. 

When a designer fully understands these matters, the 
danger of placing toilet-rooms under schoolrooms is so forcibly 
impressed upon him that he will, even at a sacrifice, arrange 
them elsewhere. 

Toilet-rooms placed in the wings with a hall or staircase 
separating them from the main building are in a much better 
position. There is little fear of the direct contamination of 
the schoolrooms where they are properly constructed, but it 
has been my experience, even when the utmost care had been 
taken in the construction and maintenance, that after a series 
of years there was more or less odor perceptible at times in 
the entrance-halls and staircases, and that no amount of 
cleansing or disinfecting would entirely remove it. The 
expression " at times" is used advisedly, for under certain 
conditions of wind and atmosphere the odors were very 
marked, while at others they were scarcely perceptible. 
Many times the conditions cited have not been noticed by 
the school officials or teachers; or, if they have, have not 
been commented upon; but they have annoyed me to such 
an extent, especially in those cases where I have tried to take 
every precaution and thought I had succeeded, until my nose 
ruthlessly dispelled the illusion, that I have about made up 
my mind that it is impossible to place the pupils' toilet- 



l80 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

rooms in any part of the basement of a school building with- 
out their presence being noticeable. 

. To effectually overcome this objection, I have of late 
resorted to the isolated-building system, as shown on Plate 
13, and with very satisfactory results. Of course arrange- 
ments of this kind require either special heat generated in 
the outbuilding or heat conveyed from the boiler of the main 
building; the latter method is usually feasible where steam is 
the medium of heating, but where hot air is used it will be 
necessary to use stoves in the outbuildings. An arrangement 
of this kind is shown on Plate 38. Of course the advantage 
of placing the toilet-rooms either in the basement or yard is 
their proximity to the playgrounds and rooms, and this is 
a very important consideration, especially in suburban build- 
ings or those situated in the smaller cities, where there is 
plenty of available space devoted to the playgrounds; but in 
the larger cities, where there is little or no yard room, there 
is no advantage that I can can see in placing the toilet-room 
in the basement or yard, provided, of course, that the play- 
rooms are also removed from the basement. I am thoroughly 
convinced that the best place for both toilet- and play-rooms 
in any school building situated in the crowded districts of our 
larger cities is upon the top floor of the structure, as shown 
on Plates 86 and 89. Take these necessary requirements of 
every school building out of the damp, dark, and usually 
poorly ventilated basement, and put them where sunlight can 
penetrate and the winds of heaven circulate. Devote the 
basement entirely to that for which it is best adapted — 
storage and the heating and ventilating apparatus. To 
many this very radical departure from the arrangement which 
precedent has firmly established will be startling; but, after 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. ' l8l 




SANITARY ARRANGEMENT. 1 83 

careful consideration, they will, I think, agree with me and 
acknowledge that the advantages obtained more than balance 
the objections that can be raised. 

The first difficulty that will suggest itself is that of con- 
venience. The idea that all the pupils of the lower floors 
must ascend through the building to the toilet- and play- 
rooms will appear to be an insurmountable obstacle, but I 
fail to see why it should be considered more natural for the 
pupils of the third and fourth floors to descend to the base- 
ment and return to their rooms than for the pupils of the first 
and second stories to ascend to the roof and return to theirs. 
To use a homely expression, it is just as broad as it is long, 
and I believe it to be a very debatable question whether the 
presumably older occupants of the upper floors are better 
able to stand the necessary exertion attendant on this passing 
to and from their class-rooms than the younger children of 
the lower floors. In either case it will certainly be easier for 
all to descend rather than to ascend after the natural fatigue 
attending the exercise of the playroom. The time consumed 
in either case would be the same, and there need be no more 
complications in planning and construction in one instance 
than in the other, 

A possible objection may be that it would be more 
dangerous in case of fire or panic to have the children massed 
on the upper floor than upon the lower. With proper fire- 
proof construction (which should be insisted upon), ample 
exits, and broad and easy staircases I do not think that this 
is a valid objection. If the proper precautions are taken, the 
danger from the causes mentioned can surely be reduced to a 
minimum; and I should not hesitate a moment, should 



184 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS 

opportunity present itself, to erect a building arranged in the 
\yay here advocated. 

Those cited are all the objections that occur to me. 
Others might develop after such a structure had been occu- 
pied; but if they should, I believe they would be trivial and 
easily surmounted. Such a building would certainly be a 
novelty in school architecture, and I think the advantage to 
be obtained under the proposition worthy of serious consid- 
eration. All the bad odors emanating from the toilet- and 
play-rooms would be eliminated from the building, and -the 
danger from contamination effectively removed. Plates 84, 
85, 86, 87, 88, and 89 show buildings planned in this manner, 
which are quite as pleasing architecturally as are any of the 
others. True, the expense of this method will be somewhat 
more than if the old way is followed, but not so much so as 
to prove fatal to introduction. And I believe that if this 
system is once successfully introduced, its many advantages 
will assert themselves in so emphatic a manner that buildings 
in the larger cities constructed in this way will become in the 
future the rule rather than the exception. 

The desirability of subdividing the toilet-rooms and plac- 
ing a certain number on each floor is at present a mooted 
question. Much can be said both in favor of and against this 
system. The objections already cited in regard to the 
permeation of the air will still exist, perhaps not to so great 
an extent, but still sufificiently to become in time a menace to 
the health of the occupants; and as to convenience of access 
to the playrooms or grounds, there is no question that any 
of the other arrangements is superior. But the greatest 
fault of this system to me is its complication. If your build- 
ing is four stories high, you necessarily have two toilet-rooms 



SANITARY ARRANGEMENT. - 1 85 

on each floor, one for each sex; this means eight separate 
rooms to be plumbed, kept in repair, and daily taken care of 
— quite a task in itself if it is properly done; the amount of 
supply-, vent-, and waste-pipes is largely increased, and the 
number of traps, valves, and shut-offs multiplied to an alarm- 
ing extent. 

The rule of simplicity appHes, to my mind, with equal 
force to the plumbing as to the heating systems, and I am 
just as much in favor of grouping in one instance as in the 
other, and believe that more satisfactory results can be 
obtained by placing the plumbing in not more than two posi- 
tions than by scattering it all over the building. 

About the only advantage claimed for the subdivided 
system is the close proximity of the toilet-rooms to the 
schoolrooms, their consequent accessibility and the little time 
that is lost in passing to and from them. If the halls and 
staircases are arranged as I have advocated in other portions 
of this work, pupils passing to and fro will not disturb the 
occupants of the rooms any more in one case than in the 
other. This is true when the school is in session, but at 
recess or between sessions it ceases to exist. As to the time 
spent in going to and from the toilet-rooms, I believe it 
makes little difference whether the rooms are situated on the 
same floor or two or three stories removed ; if in the latter 
position, the additional exercise incurred will be beneficial 
rather than detrimental to the health of the pupils, especially 
to those who are disinclined to take active exercise at recess 
time. 

My own preference at the present time is to place the 
toilet accommodations of the smaller city and suburban 
schools in isolated buildings in the yards, as shown on Plates 



l86 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

8 and 13; and for the larger structures in the crowded cities, 
at the top of the buildings, as shown on Plates 85 and 89. 
These views are those of mature consideration, arrived at after 
the most careful study. Possibly at some future time a 
better method will be devised; but until I am perfectly 
assured of this, I must urge upon school committees the 
adoption of either one or the other of these systems as being 
the best, all things considered, now known to me. 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



187 





MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



189 




MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



191 




MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



193 






CHAPTER XIII. 

THE HYGIENIC CONSTRUCTION OF THE BRIDGEPORT 
HIGH-SCHOOL BUILDING.* 

In no department of public or private works is there such 
vital necessity for a perfect system of hygiene as in the plan, 
ning, construction, drainage, and ventilation of our school 
buildings. At no time in our lives are we so susceptible to 
disease as in our school-days. The rapid growth of the child, 
the mental strain that our forcing system of education 
requires, and the bad sanitary condition of many homes, all 
tend to weaken the constitution at this period, and render it 
particularly liable to the contraction of disease. The neces- 
sity of abating, as far as possible, and ultimately exterminat- 
ing, what is known as preventable disease, has become of 



* This paper was originally prepared for the third annual report of the 
Connecticut State Board of Health, published in 1879. and was afterwards 
reprinted in the report of the Board of Education of the city of Bridge- 
port for 1881. Copies of either of these volumes are exceedingly difficult 
to obtain. For this reason, coupled with the fact that, even at this late 
day, frequent demands are made for copies of the paper, it has been 
reproduced intact in this work, with the original illustrations. Plates 39 
and 40 show the building as it was designed and erected in 1878-Q. 
Plates 41 and 42 show the same problem treated in the way I should 
recommend to-day, after the intervening years of experience in school 
construction. It has seemed to me that it would be interesting to illus- 
trate a problem in this way, and I hope that a careful comparison of the 
old with the new ideas will prove of interest to all those into whose hands 
this work may come. 

195 



196 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

paramount importance. The alarming spread of malarial dis- 
eases and malignant epidemics among children in various 
parts of the country I attribute, in the majority of cases, to 
criminal carelessness in sanitary matters. Miserable con- 
struction, poor sewerage, bad plumbing, and no system of 
ventilation, combine to produce among the poor classes hot- 
beds for the nursing of the germs of pestilential disease, which 
are then conveyed by the children to our schoolhouses. 
Much has been accomplished by our State and local boards 
of health to remedy this evil, but there still remains a vast 
amount of work to be done. Stringent legislation is needed 
in all matters pertaining to building, and proper officers 
appointed by the Governor to see that the laws are enforced 
are required in all larger cities in the State; when this is done 
we may hope to see the erection of the miserable shams that 
greedy speculators and unscrupulous landlords now burden us 
with, stopped. So long as they enjoy the license which the 
present laws allow them, we can hope for no improvement. 

The schoolhouse, where the child spends from four to six 
hours each day, demands our direct attention. The majority 
of the pupils in our public schools come from the poorer 
classes, and are, as a rule, none too cleanly in their personal 
habits; coming from homes which have none of the luxuries 
and barely the necessities of life, they are in no condition to 
be subjected to either excessive heat or extreme cold. Foul 
air and poor ventilation they have in plenty at their homes, 
and we should endeavor in the schoolroom to supply them 
with pure air, uniform temperature, plenty of sunlight, cheer- 
fulness, refinement, and comfort; our buildings should be so 
planned as to combine all these requirements. 

Dr. Lincoln, in his admirable paper recently published in 



THE BRIDGEPORT HIGH-SCHOOL BUILDING. - 1 97 

'Brick's Hygiene, has plainly told us what a school building 
should be, and the writer has endeavored, as far as lay in his 
power, to produce a building that should be a model of its 
kind. He has not only labored long and faithfully himself,, 
but has consulted the leading experts of the country in regard 
to the heating, ventilation, and general sanitary arrangements 
of the building, and has always received from them their 
hearty approval, coupled with the remark: ** We have fre- 
quently called the attention of the public, in our articles, to 
what a building should be, and we are glad to see at last a 
building planned in accordance with our view." 

In all the writer's efforts he has been most aoly seconded 
by the Board of Education of this city, and more especially 
by the members of the board who comprise the building 
committee. They are, to a man, whole-souled, enlightened, 
Christian gentlemen, who have the welfare of the public in 
view, and although they have been severely criticised and 
wrongfully assailed, they have unflinchingly put their 
shoulders to the wheel, and worked with a zeal that cannot 
be too highly commended to secure for the city a building 
that can be pointed to with pride when finished. 

The site of the new building is admirable. Situated almost 
in the geographical centre of the city, in one of its best 
localities, far removed from all noise, dust, or odors arising 
from factories, stables, or the like, being completely isolated 
on all sides, having no large buildings or trees to shadow it„ 
and standing within a few feet of the highest ground within 
the city limits, it presents natural advantages that have never 
been surpassed, and seldom equalled. The lot has an actual 
elevation of 6i feet above the average high water in the 
harbor. It has a frontage on two streets of 200 feet, and aa 



198 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

average depth of 256 feet, the lot running from street to 
street. Not only are great advantages obtained by this 
frontage, in ease of access to the building, but thus are 
secured unexceptional facilities for the disposal of sewage, 
there being a 12-inch main running down the hill in the 
centre of both streets; the fall of these streets is very rapid, 
being between 4 and 6 feet in every hundred. 

The principal front (there is no rear) of the building faces 
Congress street, which, running nearly east and west, gives it 
a southwesterly exposure. This arrangement secures in every 
room in the building, during a portion of the day, sinilight in 
abundant quantities. 

The building is designed to be constructed of brick, with 
local stone foundations and underpinnings, brownstone caps, 
sills, and trimmings, exterior steps to be of granite, and roots 
of slate. It will consist of three stories, viz., the ground 
floor, first story, and second story. It contains a total of 
fourteen school- and recitation-rooms, a chemical laboratory, 
reception-room, office, library, janitor's room, work- and 
boiler-room, beside the water-closets. 

The height of all rooms in the building, with the excep- 
tion of the high-school room, is 13 feet, the high-school room 
having a height of 28 feet in the centre, and 21 feet on the 
sides. 

The writer does not consider it necessary to go into a 
detailed explanation of each fioor-plan, but will simply call 
attention to some of the novel features and general construc- 
tion of the building. The plans themselves illustrate suffi- 
ciently the general position and arrangement of rooms and 
halls. 

The ground floor is located two steps, or about 1 5 inches, 



THE BRIDGEPORT HIGH-SCHOOL BUILDING. - 1 99 

below the grade of the lot. This, under ordinary circum- 
stances, would be considered an objection, on the plea of 
-dampness, but the floor and side walls have been so carefully 
prepared that the rooms situated on this floor are expected to 
be the driest in the building. 

In the first place, the ground itself is unusually free from 
dampness; ample provision has, however, been made for the 
removal of all surface-water by the introduction of 6-inch 
•drain-pipes, laid with open joints, in trenches filled with loose 
stone, these stones covering the top of the pipe a few inches. 
These pipes run all around the building, just outside of the 
foundation wall, and are then carried to the manholes, where 
they are connected with the main sewer above the running 
trap. 

The ground under the floor of the schoolrooms situated 
on the ground floor is first cemented 2^ inches with the best 
Rosendale cement, and then covered with two coats of 
asphaltum. This asphalt is put on hot, and not only covers 
the entire bottom, but runs up on all outside and inside walls 
to the height of the copings, and is then carried across the 
top of all interior and exterior walls, forming an impenetrable 
protection against dampness. Not only is the ground floor 
and the walls to the height of the coping treated in this 
manner, but all outside walls in the building — they are all 
covered to their full height and width with two coats before 
they are furred. This I believe to be a more perfect safe- 
guard against dampness than the common hollow wall. 

STAIRCASES. 

The staircases consist of four flights; two at either end of 
the building. While being convenient and easy of access- 



200 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

from all parts of the building, they are yet sufficiently isolated 
to be free from the usual objection of noise, and are more- 
over absolutely fire-proof. They ara constructed with iron 
treads and risers, securely fastened to string-pieces, also of 
iron, that are bolted directly to the brick enclosing-walls. 
The top surfaces of all treads are to be covered with rubber, 
to prevent slipping. All platforms and landings are to be 
formed of granite slabs 8 inches thick. The stairs are formed 
with two " runs " for each flight, with landings midway, this 
being done to secure an easy ascent. The stairs are all 5 feet 
wide; all landings 5' X u', risers 'j\ inches, treads 11 inches; 
they are well lighted at all points by ample windows placed 
on each landing. An iron hand-rail, bolted to the walls, runs 
around on all sides at a suitable height. There is no wood- 
finish of any kind, with the exception of door- and window- 
casings, in the staircase halls. The side walls are of face-brick 
laid in black mortar with struck joints. These walls, when 
hard, are to be treated with a coat of liquid filler, and then 
varnished in two coats, thus forming a perfectly hard surface^, 
not easily marred or soiled 

HAT-AND-CLOAK-ROOMS. 

In all our school buildings of the present day, the hat- 
and-cloak-rooms have been more or less objectionable, 
especially in wet weather. Children coming in with wet 
garments hang them in narrow rooms, poorly heated and 
lighted, and usually unventilated, where they are allowed to 
steam in a close and unwholesome atmosphere during the 
session, and at its close are put on by the child in a worse 
condition than when taken off. An attempt has been made 
to remedy this evil in the construction of this building. la 



THE BRIDGEPORT HIGH-SCHOOL BUILDING: 201 

the main halls, which are spacious, and which are to be 
heated and ventilated in the same manner as the schoolrooms, 
have been placed the hat-and-cloak-rooms — two for each 
-schoolroom. These rooms, instead of being lathed and 
plastered in the usual manner, are simply partitions of ash 
S feet high, entirely open at the top, and so arranged that 
only the supporting posts run down to the floor. The por- 
tion of the partition between the posts is kept 4 inches fr©m 
the floor, giving a free circulation of air throughout these 
rooms. Damp or uncleanly clothing hung» in these rooms 
during the session, instead of being filled with the foulness 
•arising from confined atmosphere, will become purified by 
the constant circulation of pure air, — the impure air being 
-disposed of through the main-hall ventilators. 

LIGHT. 
All eminent writers on school hygiene have called atten- 
tion to, and dwelt with much stress upon, the importance of 
"abundant light properly distributed in our schoolrooms. 
That the light should come from the left side and be intro- 
duced at nearly right angles to the floor-line is an established 
Tule among those versed in school matters. Upon the actual 
amount of glass required by each pupil, authorities differ. 
Dr. Lincoln states that the size of the windows, taken collec- 
tively, should equal at least one sixth of the floor-space. 
Cohn, the German writer, requires one fifth, or 30 inches to 
the foot. Some of the highest authorities require from 300 
to 350 square inches of glass for each pupil; this coincides 
very nearly with Cohn, but Dr. Lincoln does not consider 
that, in our schoolrooms, which have a greater depth than 
those referred to by the above-mentioned authorities, the 
^amount mentioned by them is enough. 



202 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

In the Bridgeport schoolhouse the window-stools have all 
been kept 4 feet from the floor, and the window openings are 
carried up to within i foot of the ceilings. The size of the 
windows, taken collectively, equals, in the corner rooms, one 
sixth of the floor-space, allowing 50 pupils per room, and 
gives 434 square inches of glass per pupil. In the middle 
rooms, the floor-space is seven times that of the glass-surface, 
and, allowing 50 pupils per room, will give to each 403 square 
inches of glass. In the corner rooms the seats are so arranged 
that the light comes always from the back and left — in the 
middle rooms it comes only from the left. 

In the high-school room, the glass-surfaces, taken collec-^ 
tively, equal one sixth the floor-space; allowing 200 pupils 
for this room, will give to each pupil 384 square inches of 
glass-surface. 

FLOOR, AND CUBIC FEET OF SPACE ALLOWED EACH PUPIL. 

In the corner rooms, allowing 50 pupils per room, each 
pupil will have 20.50 square feet of floor-space and 266 cubic 
feet of air. In the middle rooms each pupil will have 21 
square feet of floor-space and 273 cubic feet of air. In the- 
high-school, allowing 200 pupils, each pupil will have 17 
square feet of space, and 441 cubic feet of air. While the 
floor-space in the high-school room is somewhat smaller than 
the highest authorities require, the cubic contents are largely 
in excess of the most exacting, and it must be taken into 
consideration that this room is seldom occupied by the entire 
number of pupils for more than a few moments at a time, as 
the recitation-rooms used in connection with it are, during 
the school session, in constant use. It should also be remem- 
bered that the number of pupils calculated for each room is. 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



203 




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1 




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111 




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THE BRIDGEPORT HIGH-SCHOOL BUILDING.. 205 

their extreme capacity. It is to be hoped that no teacher 
will be burdened with more than 44 pupils, although I have 
based my calculations on a larger number. 

THE WATER-CLOSETS AND THEIR CONSTRUCTION. 

The demands of modern civilization require that we pro- 
vide, either within our school buildings or in close proximity. 
to them, water-closets for the use of the pupils. There can 
be no doubt that much harm is done to children, in many 
schools in our State, by the bad sewerage and careless 
arrangement of water-closets. It has been said that privies 
placed under the same roof which shelters the school should 
not exist for a moment. I do not consider that this rule 
should be simply applied to privies, but that the groups of 
water-closets which are required in all our large schools should 
come under the same head; they should in no case be placed 
directly under schoolrooms in the basement, as contamina- 
tion will surely follow sooner or later. They should be, if not 
wholly, at least partially isolated from the building, and those 
for the boys removed as far as possible from those for the 
girls. The teachers' water-closets can, I think with safety, 
be placed in the building, that is if they are carefully venti- 
lated; these water-closets will be used understandingly and 
are not liable to become unwholesome; but the pupils' closets, 
even with the most careful watching, are liable to become 
foul from the habit so prevalent among children (I wish I 
could say that the habit was confined to children alone!) of 
making the closet a common receptacle for all kinds of 
garbage. 

In the Bridgeport schoolhouse (see Plate 43) the closets 
for the pupils have been placed at either end of the building 



206 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

under the entrance-steps, far removed from each other, secur- 
ing a complete separation of the sexes. They are also com- 
pletely shut off from the main school building by the 
intervening staircase halls; by this arrangement, ease of 
access is obtained, combined with complete isolation, obviat- 
ing the danger of contaminating the main school building. 

The water-closets have been constructed with a view to 
having as little woodwork as is possible with the require- 
ments of comfort. The main floor is to be of bluestone 
flagging 4 inches thick, laid in Portland cement; this is laid 
on a gentle incline to a certain point, to secure a good drip 
or wash from all points of the room. The side walls are of 
brick, treated in the same manner as has been before men- 
tioned in the description of the entrance halls. The ceilings 
will be formed by the bottom of the granite slabs that are 
used for the floors of the vestibule, porch, and outer halls. 
The casings, doors, and seats for the closets comprise the 
entire woodwork; these are of ash, and are treated to a coat 
of filler and then varnished in two coats. The partition 
between each bowl is to be of slate, i^ inches thick, 7 feet 
high, by 2 feet 6 inches broad. These slate partitions are 
held in position by iron floor- and wall-pieces and caps of the 
same material (see Plate 43). The floor upon which the 
closets stand is raised one step above the main floor of the 
closet (see drawing), and is also composed of bluestone flag- 
ging 4 inches thick, a hole being cut through this stone for 
the outlet of the closet. The closet that is intended to be 
used is the Hellyer short artisan hopper. This closet com- 
bines more good points, in the writer's opinion, than any 
other at present known to him. Its chief point of excellence 
is its simplicity of working, and the fact that it is entirely of 



THE BRIPGEPORT HIGH-SCHOOL BUILDING. . 20^ 

earthenware. There are no pans, valves, or plungers to 
become foul or get out of order; it is, in fact, an earthen 
hopper of improved shape, fed by a continuous tank to which 
is attached for each bowl a serving-box. When the seat is. 
occupied, by a simple device a valve is raised, and the serv- 
ing-box filled with water from the tank, at the same time a 
small stream is permitted to trickle into the hopper, wetting 
the sides and preventing the adhesion of excreta to the bowl. 
When the seat is relieved of its weight, the valve before 
referred to is closed, another one opened and the contents of 
the serving-box (some three gallons) suddenly discharged 
through a large pipe connected with the flushing-rim into the 
bowl of the hopper, carrying all solid matter through the trap. 
As I have said before, these hoppers, both bowl and trap, are 
of white earthenware; they are to be securely bolted to- 
the bluestone and left entirely open and exposed to view. 
The seat is supported by the slate partitions, on which are- 
bolted slate cleats. The chain operating the service-box and 
the feed-pipe are both enclosed in an iron pipe, so as to be 
completely inaccessible to the pupils. 

The tank and service-boxes are of iron, painted. Directly 
under the platform on which the hoppers are set, there is to 
be constructed a manhole trench to be built of brick, coated 
with asphalt; the top is formed of the bluestone that the 
hoppers rest upon. This manhole is 2 feet broad by 3 feet 
6 inches high, and is large enough to permit of a man crawl- 
ing through it to inspect the pipes. This trench is to have 
an iron register at one end for the admission of pure air, and 
at the other is connected directly with the ventilating-shaft. 
In this trench are to run the soil-pipes from the hoppers; 
these are to consist of 6-inch cast-iron pipes with 4-inch. 



208 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

Y joints for each hopper. These pipes are caulked with 
molten lead and then covered with two coats of asphaltum to 
prevent rust. By the arrangement of this trench the soil- 
pipe and its connections are always accessible; even should 
a leak occur in any of its joints which was not at once dis- 
covered, the stench arising from such a cause would not enter 
the building, but pass off through the ventilating-flue. The 
urinals are placed along the inside division-walls; they are to 
be constructed with slate backs and troughs put together in 
the most approved manner, the trough being supported by 
brass brackets; the back is arranged with a neat cap of slate, 
under which is run a water-pipe perforated with small holes 
so as to secure the complete wetting of the entire back at all 
times. Underneath this trough, in the floor, there is another 
trough, the bottom and one side being of bluestone and the 
other formed by the slate back; this trough has an inclined 
surface and is intended to carry off all drippings or slopping 
that may occur in or about the closets or urinals. At its 
outlet it is trapped with a deep running-trap and then con- 
nected with the main drain. This arrangement w'll enable 
the janitor, at the close of each day's session, to thoroughly 
wash down with a hose the entire room. 

Upon the inside walls of rooms that are occupied by these 
closets have been placed ventilating-flues, two for each of the 
closets. These flues are of large size, and run up through 
the building, entirely independent of all other flues, to a 
point far above the main-cornice line. Through these flues 
the extension of the soil-pipes of each section of hoppers is 
carried, and there is also connected with these flues a vent- 
pipe, running under the seats just above the trap of each 
hopper. Lastly, the trench in which the soil-pipe runs is 



THE BRIDGEPORT HIGH-SCHOOL BUILDING. - 209 

also cemented. The lower portions of the flues, — that is, 
those parts of them that come directly in the rooms occupied 
by the water-closets, — are enlarged into a circular form (see 
plans), this being done to permit of the introduction of a 
small stove in the bottom of each flue, and this stove is 
to be kept running ALWAYS, both winter and summer, as 
the writer believes that this is the ONLY WAY to secure a 
steady up-current at all times under the varying conditions of 
the atmosphere. The brickwork around these stoves is laid 
in open work (see Plate 43), and on the inside covered with 
wire netting. There is also an iron door provided for each, 
flue. By this arrangement many points are gained; not only 
are the hoppers and soil-pipes perfectly ventilated, but any 
stench arising in the rooms is quickly removed by the strong 
up-current through the flues. Again, in the winter, these 
two stoves in each room will be ample for heating purposes; 
while in summer, by a simple device, the direct radiation is 
shut off from the room, and thrown entirely up the flue. 

The teachers' water-closets, situated two on each floor, 
are to be of the same pattern as those described, fitted up in 
the same manner as the ordinary house-closets, but with 
special reference to their construction and ventilation.* 

The reader by studying the accompanying plans and 



* The soil-pipes for the teachers' closets in the main building are laid 
in a trench in the same manner as described above ; the main drain runs 
into a manhole just outside of the building, where the three lines of soil- 
pipes (one from each section of hoppers, and one from the teachers' 
closets) are brought together just above a deep running-trap. This man- 
hole is covered with a bluestone flag, is carefully ventilated, and easy of 
access. There is also connected just above the trap in this manhole the 
rain-water drains connected with the leaders from the roof, so as to secure 
during every rain a thorough scouring out of all these drains and their 
connections. 



2IO MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

sketches will be enabled to readily understand the general 
arrangement and working of this system. 

HEAT AND VENTILATION. 

It is generally admitted, on all sides, that, the most prac- 
tical, economical, and surest way of heating our buildings, at 
the present day, is by steam. Granting that steam is to be 
our medium, it next becomes a question of how it shall be 
used. There are, at this writing, two methods in general 
use, these being known respectively as the direct and indirect 
systems. The direct system means the placing of radiators 
or circulation-pipes in each and every room required to be 
heated. The indirect system consists in placing all the pipes 
or radiators in boxes in the basement. Pure, cold air is 
brought into these boxes, and by passing through the coils 
of heated steam-pipes is warmed to the degree required. 
The heat generated in these boxes is then conveyed to the 
various rooms through tubes or pipes, in the same way that 
heat is usually conducted from our ordinary hot-air furnaces. 
Both systems have many strong advocates, but as far as the 
writer's investigations and researches have led him, he has 
found, among men who have simply the heating of a room in 
view, the direct system in favor; but among those who have 
not only the actual heating, but the supplying of the room 
with fresh, pure air at all times, the indirect system is invari- 
ably adopted. From the personal investigations and practical 
experiments the writer has made from time to time, he is 
convinced that far better results can be obtained by this 
method than by any other now known to him. It has there- 
fore been adopted in the new building for this city. It may 
be said in objection to this system that the amount of fuel 



THE BRIDGEPORT HIGH-SCHOOL BUILDING. _ 211 

required to heat a given amount of space is largely in excess 
of that required by the direct plan. This is in a measure true, 
but not to the extent supposed. Again, it has been said that 
it is impossible to heat exposed rooms by the indirect plan 
without an enormous apparatus. This also is a mistake, for 
neither is an extravagant use of fuel nor a gigantic apparatus 
required, if the apparatus is properly arranged and understand- 
ingly handled. The trouble has been not from the inability 
to produce heat, but from the extraordinary loss of heat, — 
this being occasioned in many cases by the position of the 
introductory-flues, and in other cases by that of the out- 
going ventilating-ducts. It should be our aim to utilize every 
particle of heat entering the room before we allow it to 
escape; it is certainly folly to bring in vast quantities of pure, 
warmed air at the floor level of a room, and send it out with 
equal rapidity at the ceiling level, without having traversed 
the room, outside of an almost direct line drawn from the 
incoming to the outgoing register; yet in many cases our 
registers are so arranged that it is impossible to get any 
different results. 

I have before said that there is a general unity of opinion 
among experts as to the feasibility of indirect heating, but in 
regard to the placing of the heating surfaces in the cellar, and 
the position of the incoming and outgoing registers, there is 
a wide diversity of opinion. 

I shall endeavor briefly to describe some of the principal 
methods in common use, and the objections that I have to 
them, before describing the system adopted in the Bridgeport 
school building; the placing of the coil-boxes in the base- 
ment, on the outer walls under the rooms to be heated (Fig. i, 
Plate 43), and the introduction of the warmed air at the floor 



212 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

and its removal at the ceiling level upon the opposite side o£ 
the room. The objections that I have to this system are: 

1. That in a building like the Bridgeport school there 
would have to be placed in the basement at least six separate 
coil-boxes for the generation of heat, arranged one under each 
room; that by placing these boxes in the basement rooms the 
rooms are rendered entirely unfit for school purposes, and 
their utility for playrooms greatly crippled. 

2. That by placing these boxes far away from the centre 
of the building, where the boilers are presumably located, a 
large amount of additional piping becomes necessary through- 
out the basement. 

3. The boxes being placed on the outer walls of the build- 
ing, there is danger of the pipes freezing; constant watching 
and attention is required to prevent this and to insure their 
proper working. 

4. That the introduction ducts or flues running up the 
outer exposed walls of the building lose a great deal of heat 
by their proximit)^ to the cold; that this loss of heat cannot 
be wholly obviated even by the most expensive construction; 
that a large addition to the actually necessary heating-surface 
is required to overcome this loss of heat, caused by the 
exposed position of the flues. 

Lastly. That the air entering upon the outer wall at the 
floor, and being removed on the inner wall at the ceiling 
level, does not benefit the occupants of the room as it should. 
The action of the air as it enters is rapidly upward to the 
ceiling, where it stratifies, then along its surface to the out- 
let, as indicated in Fig. 2, Plate 43. The entering air is. 
warm and light, and naturally rises and flows across the top 
of the room to the nearest outlet. The foul air of the room> 



'IHE BR1DGEP0R7' HIGH-SCHOOL BUILDING. ' 21 3 

being heavy with impurities, remains at the bottom, becom- 
ing constantly more contaminated. There is no doubt a 
certain amount of radiation or mixing going on, but the great 
bulk of the pure, warmed air entering the room takes the 
short cut across it and up the ventilating-flue, as shown in 
Fig. 2, Plate 43. This action of the warm air occasions, as 
may be readily seen, an enormous loss of heat, without 
accomplishing the very points aimed at, the utilization of 
every particle of heat before it is allowed to escape, and the 
thorough mixing of the pure incoming air with the air already 
in the room. If any one doubts the correctness of the action 
of air as herein described, let him fill the incoming fiue with 
smoke, that can be readily seen, and watch its course as it 
enters, flows upward and outward, and see where the great 
mass of it goes. The dotted lines on these sketches indicate 
the breathing-point of a person sitting. 

It may be well to explain that in these experiments the 
outlets have been at least twice as large as the inlets, and 
that there has always been heat in the outgoing flues to pro- 
duce a strong up-current, as I believe this to be the ojily sure 
way to produce a constant outward flow of air. In Fig. 3, 
Plate 43, the outgoing flue is in the same position, but the 
incoming flue has been raised about two thirds of the way 
toward the ceiling. In Fig, 4, Plate 43, the flues have been, 
placed on about the same level, but with no better results. 
In Fig. 5, Plate 43, the outgoing flue has been placed at the 
floor with the results shown in the sketch. In Fig. 6, Plate 
43, both flues are at the floor level, with better results than 
have yet been obtained, but still far from satisfactory. I 
have thus tried to show the general action of incoming and 



214 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

outgoing currents of air by the placing of the introduction- 
flues on the outer walls. 

The second method in general use is the placing of the 
coil-boxes upon the inner wall and the removal of the foul 
air at the opposite side of the rooms. I consider the placing 
of the coil-boxes on the inner walls a great improvement on 
the other method, as by this plan they are centralized, 
extensive piping is saved, and the danger of freezing obviated. 
The placing of the exhaust-flues on the opposite side of the 
room I believe to be open to the same objections that I have 
described in the first method. The action of the hot air, 
from the points where it is introduced toward the various 
outlets, is the same as in the sketches already shown, and will 
be readily understood by the reader. 

In the Bridgeport school the coil-boxes for the heating of 
the various rooms have all been placed in the main ventilat- 
ing-shafts in the centre of the building, and the air conveyed 
from them through these shafts to the rooms by means of 
metal tubes. The air enters the inner corner of the room 
about 8 feet from the floor, the corner being clipped (see 
plans) so as to form a flat surface for the register opening; 
underneath the register the space is utilized for a closet for 
the use of the teacher. The outgoing flue has been placed 
directly under the platform, which is located in the same 
corner as the introduction-flue. This platform measures 
6' X 12', and is supplied with casters, so that it can be moved 
at any time it is necessary to clean under it. Its entire lower 
edge is kept about 4 inches from the floor, to give a free cir- 
culation under it at all points. The action of the incoming 
air is rapidly upward and outward, stratifying as it goes 
toward the cooler outer walls, thence flowing down their sur- 



THE BRIDGEPORT HIGH-SCHOOL BUILDING. 21 5 

faces to the floor and back across the floor to the outgoing 
register. By this method all the air entering is made to 
traverse with a circular motion (see Fig. 7, Plate 43) the 
entire room before it reaches the exhaust-shaft, and there is 
a constant movement and mixing of the air in all parts of the 
room. All the heat entering is utilized, and I believe that if 
the supply and exhaust-flues are properly balanced as to size, 
there can be a very small loss of heat. 

The inlets are all intended to be large, and the flow of air 
through them moderate and steady. The air is not intended 
to be heated to a very high temperature; the large quantity 
introduced is expected to keep the thermometer at about 68° 
at the breathing-level. The schoolrooms contain on an 
average about 13,000 feet of air, or 260 cubic feet per pupil. 
It is proposed to supply each pupil with 30 cubic feet of air 
each minute, or 1800 cubic feet per hour. Allowing 50 
pupils to each room, this will necessitate the introduction of 
90,000 cubic feet of air into the room each hour, and will 
change the air of the room 6.92 times within the hour, or 
once in about 8 minutes. These calculations are based on a 
difference of 30° in the temperature. 

In tne exhaust-flues there are placed coils to produce a 
strong up-current at all times; heat is also obtained from 
radiation from the introduction-flues, which run through the 
foul-air shafts. 

Trouble has always been found in regulating the supply 
of warmed air obtained by the indirect system, owing to the 
inability to control the heating-surfaces. The usual way of 
constructing the apparatus has been to place in the coil-boxes 
sufficient steam-pipe to heat the room in the coldest weather. 
The pure, cold air passing over the pipes becomes heated to 



2l6 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

the desired temperature, and is then carried to the rooms - 
this answers very well during the coldest weather, but, as the 
weather moderates and less heat is required, the only way to 
regulate it has been to close the registers, which not only 
lowers the temperature of the room, but shuts off the supply 
of pure air entering. This fault has been remedied in the 
Bridgeport schoolhouse as follows: The heating-surface for 
each room is enclosed in separate cases or jackets (see Fig. 8, 
Plate 43) of metal, and are then subdivided into five sections, 
so arranged that any number of sections or the whole may be 
used at pleasure, — that is to say, that any one, two, or three 
parts may be used at discretion. In extreme cold weather 
the whole five sections are in use; in moderate weather two 
or three, and when a small amount of heat is required, only 
one. By this plan the supply of pure air remains always the 
same, but the degree to which it is heated is changed by the 
opening or closing of a valve (Fig. 8, Plate 43). 

The arrangement of all the heating and ventilating ap- 
paratus in the centre of the building renders it convenient 
and easy to manage, economical in its construction, and effec- 
tive in working. The advantage is also obtained of having 
all speaking-tubes, call-bells, and water-pipes run through 
the ventilating-shafts, where they are always accessible, as 
each shaft is provided with an iron ladder. This system has 
not only been introduced into each room, but into the halls 
as well. There are placed, moreover, in the hall foot- 
warmers, that are indicated on the plans. These warmers are 
simple steam-pipes encased in tin boxes arranged between 
the floor-joists; the pipes are packed in sand to tem.per the 
heat, and are covered at the floor level with checkered iron 
plates set flush with the floor. The tin cases referred to are 



THE BRID GEPOR T HIGH-SCHO OL B UILDING. - 21 J 

water-tight and have a drip-pipe running down to the boiler- 
room, so that in case of a leak no damage may be done to the 
building. 

The boiler-room floor is sunk some 6 feet below the level 
of the ground floor to insure a drip of all return-pipes from 
the coils. The cold-air inlets are on four sides of the build- 
ing, the openings being about 8 feet from the ground; these 
inlets are connected so that, whatever way the wind may be, 
a supply of pure, cold air is always assured. 

I have thus far spoken only of winter heating and ventilat- 
ing; for summer ventilation I believe there are no better 
inlets for the air than the windows. There are many devices 
that may be arranged in them that are simple and effective. 
It is not necessary to describe them here. The outlets, how- 
ever, need a brief description; it is intended not only to use 
the outlet under the platform, but by a simple device the 
incoming register for warm air in winter is made to connect 
with the main outlet in summer, so that two outlets are pro- 
vided during the warmer months. The up-going current in 
the ventilating-shafts is maintained in summer, as well as in 
winter, by heat; there being placed at the bottom of each 
shaft a stove, which is to be used constantly when the boilers 
are not in use, insuring an equally strong up-current in winter 
as in summer. 

I would say in conclusion that many interesting experi- 
ments have been made and important facts established. 
These experiments have principally been made with a model 
of about one sixth the capacity of the schoolrooms. They 
have always resulted most satisfactorily, and have proved to 
the writer the correctness of the principles herein advanced 
against the objections commonly raised that heat brought 



2l8 MODEEN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

into the room on the inner walls will not sufficiently warm the 
outer walls. He would say that in every test yet made the 
registration of carefully-graded thermometers has been from 
i" to 2° warmer near the outer wall than near the inner, 
showing conclusively that the flow of heated air is rapidly 
towards cool surfaces, and that if its volume is as it should be 
it will counteract the cold radiating from the outer walls and 
render the temperature of the air in tiieir immediate vicinity 
comfortable. Many other interesting facts have been estab- 
lished and much useful data obtained, but I have neither the 
time nor the space here to describe them. I have purposely 
omitted in this paper all figures not actually necessary, aiming 
to make it a simple statement of the writer's views, fortified 
by the results of actual experiments. If any should desire 
more minute details than are here given, by communicating 
with the author he will willingly furnish all the information 
required. 

The building has been described throughout as it was 
designed to be built by the architect; some modifications have 
been found necessary during the progress of the work. 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 219 






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MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS.- 



221 




CHAPTER XIV. 
SUBURBAN SCHOOLHOUSES* 

Under the stimulating influences of what is known as 
sanitary reform, the outgrowth mainly of the systematic 
organization of State and local boards of health, there is in 
some localities a laudable desire among the school and build- 
ing committees to improve the general condition of existing 
schoolhouses, and in those about to be erected to embody, in 
a greater or less degree, the lessons taught by sanitary science 
and practical experience. 

While the spirit of this movement is to be highly com- 
mended, it is to be deplored that, however conscientiously 
the advocates of better structures for school purposes may 
labor, they almost invariably fall far short of the desired 
results. This is directly attributable to several causes. 

First, the stereotyped schoolhouse is always before them, 
and is usually taken as a model for the new building. Com- 
mittees and teachers are alike slow to depart from the estab- 
lished custom, fearing, if unsuccessful in their efforts to 
improve, the severe censure they are sure to receive from the 

* This paper was written for the State Board of Health of New Hamp- 
shire and published in their first annual report issued in the spring of 
1882. This edition has long since been exhausted, for which reason 
mainly I have republished the paper here substantially as it was first 
V ritten, but with new illustrations which more fully depict the ideas 
gleaned from a riper experience. Such changes in the text as have been 
made refer almost exclusively to the plans and their accessories. 

223 



224 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

community. Many valuable suggestions are not adopted 
for this reason, it being considered better to leave well 
enough alone, no matter how bad " well enough " may be. 

Second, local prejudice against hygienic reform. The 
ancient inhabitant classes it with all other modern crazes and 
new-fangled notions. " In my school-days," he argues, 
" we had no such nonsense, and children were healthy and 
hearty enough, I am sure. Why should they not be so 
to-day, with better buildings, and all the so-called ' modern 
improvements' ?" It is true that we have "modern im- 
provements" of all kinds, not only in our buildings, but in 
our studies as well. The time has been, when a few months* 
schooling each year in the rudimentary branches was consid- 
ered an almost unwarranted luxury. The greater portion of 
the lives of the youth of both sexes was spent in manual 
labor, thereby strengthening them physically, without over- 
taxing their mental powers. They lived, as a rule, in a 
country thinly populated, and had at all times an abundance 
of fresh air and exercise. Malarial and contagious diseases 
were comparatively unknown. Modern civilization and im- 
provements had not contaminated either the soil or the air, 
as is the case in our day. I venture to say, that, if we could 
take the healthy, robust children of fifty years ago, and crowd 
them into our badly-ventilated, poorly-heated, and imper- 
fectly lighted schoolrooms, confine them in the unwhole- 
some atmosphere five or six hours daily, subject them to our 
forcing system of education, and continue this strain for the 
greater portion of each year without the least thought of their 
physical culture, the healthy child of "ye olden time" 
would guickly be reduced to as unhealthy and puny a stripling 
as the majority of the city school children of to-day. 



SUBURBAN SCHOOLHOUSES. - 22$ 

The very salvation of the child in those days was the 
small amount of mental labor, and the vast amount of physi- 
cal exercise required of him. The state of the community at 
that time required that it should be so, while in our day it is 
exactly the reverse. It is as absurd to compare the school 
system and buildings of those days with what is now required 
as it would be to put the ancient stage-line in competition 
with the railroad. 

Third, penurious and short-sighted economy in the appro- 
priation of small sums for the construction of buildings. 

The average parents will cheerfully provide their children 
with suitable, and often expensive, clothing; will indulge 
them with costly toys; obtain for them teachers in music, 
drawing, etc., — all without a murmur. But should there be 
a special tax levied to help pay for a new school building, or 
should they be asked individually to contribute a certain sum 
for that purpose, you will usually find them as stingy and 
close-fisted as misers. 

I put it to any thinking man or woman, — which would be 
most beneficial to children, money spent in useless toys that 
please for the moment only, or the same sums invested in the 
construction of healthful schoolrooms in which they may 
pursue their studies ? 

In nine cases nut of ten, where first-class professional 
talent has been secured by a committee to advise and assist 
in the planning and construction of new buildings, this talent 
is so hampered by the meagreness of the means at hand that 
it is impossible to improve much upon what has already been 
done. Should a request for an additional appropriation be 
taken before a public meeting, there will be a tremendous 
outburst of popular indignation, and the useless waste of 



226 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

public funds will be harped upon on all sides. The members 
of the committee themselves will be looked upon as vultures 
trying to prey upon the people's treasury, instead of men of 
common sense, who have the welfare of the rising generation 
in their minds. Until this niggardly policy is abolished, and 
public sentiment brought into harmony with the true spirit 
of reform, we may expect little or no improvement in school 
buildings. 

The fourth obstacle in the way of thorough sanitary reform 
in school buildings is the difficulty of obtaining satisfactory 
data. The average layman has ver}' little idea of the require- 
ments of a thoroughly good schoolhouse, and I am sorry to 
say that a majority of my profession are equally as ignorant. 
They have yet to learn — many of them — that something 
more than a showy exterior and rooms large enough to crowd 
a certain number of pupils into is required. In many cases 
some local architect of little experience, or master-builder, is 
employed, having absolutely no insight into hygienic or sani- 
tary science. With an over-confidence in his own ability, he 
usually opposes the calling in of an expert, on the ground 
that such a step would involve an uncalled-for expense, and 
result in no practical good. 

For the enlightenment of unprofessional men generally, 
and more particularly those who are directly interested in 
schools or school buildings, I have written this article, my aim 
being to call attetion to existing evils, and to show in a prac- 
tical way how they may be remedied. I submit for your 
inspection plans which are based upon correct principles. 
Objections will probably be raised to them on the score of 
cost. In answer to this, I would say that nothing has been 
introduced that is not essential to sound, healthful construe- 



SUBURBAN SCHOOLHOUSES. . 22/ 

tion and practical convenience. The details are simple and 
within the range of ability of the ordinary village craftsman, 
it being my firm belief that any New England town has home 
talent enough to construct, under proper guidance, buildings 
that will embody all that the most exacting exponent of 
school hygiene may require. 

SITE. 

The selection of a proper site is of the greatest impor- 
tance. A lot with an area of an acre will be large enough for 
a one-room building. While being handy and easy of access, 
it had better be sufficiently isolated to be unobjectionable to 
surrounding property owners. It should have, if possible, a 
southern exposure, be entirely free from dampness, and far 
removed from stagnant water, or low, marshy ground. Blind 
drains must be introduced for the drainage of any portion 
that may be springy, and for the removal of surface-water. 

As no public system of water exists in most of our 
suburban towns, we shall probably be forced to depend upon 
a well for the supply. This should be situated near at hand, 
so that water may be pumped from it into the building with- 
out diflficulty. A force-pump arranged with a two-way con- 
nection should be conveniently placed in the building, and 
some simple pump in the yard. The " two-way cocks " will 
enable you to draw water directly from the well, or pump it 
into a tank in the upper portion of the building, from which 
it can be drawn for the use of closets and bowls. A good 
windmill placed in some convenient position will do this 
pumping admirably; it will require little or no attention, and 
may be so treated as to be a picturesque feature of the land- 
scape (see Plate 38). In connection with the exposure, I 



228 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

would say, that of all lots, I should most prefer one facing 
the south and west, as by placing your building judiciously 
you are enabled to obtain not only the coveted north light, 
but sunlight for the greater part of the day. 

MATERIAL. 

The only quality that can commend the universal use of 
wood in the construction of suburban schoolhouses is its 
cheapness. At the outset, it is unquestionably more economi- 
cal to build of wood than of other material; but if during a 
series of years the cost of repairs and a consideration of the 
health and comfort of the occupants are taken into account, 
surely it is better to pay the difference in the beginning. 
Few are the localities where good, cheap brick cannot be 
obtained; and there is hardly a village in New England that 
does not contain within its limits quantities of excellent 
building-stone, easily quarried, and comparatively inexpen- 
sive. Why, then, should not these materials be used ? A 
building properly constructed of stone will withstand the 
storms of centuries; it will be warm in winter and cool in 
summer, and more pleasing to the eye than the slab-sided 
abominations that now deface our landscapes. Many people 
object to stone on the score of dampness; but there is not 
the slightest danger of this, with proper construction. 

I would not have you think that I advocate the use of 
expensive cut or sand-rubbed stone; all that I require is 
bold, quarry-faced, random ashler, laid with dark joints, and 
trimmed, for economy's sake, at angles and around openings, 
with selected hard-burned common bricks; these materials to 
be used on all exterior walls. 

The roofs may be covered with slate or, what is better 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



229 







MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. " 23 1 



■r 






FiRST ^TORY Plan. 



m 



Two PJOOM BuiLDIAia 



_E>i>r5_ Js ' 





Basejacnt DlAM 



SUBURBAN SCHOOLHOUSES. - 233 

•Still, metallic shingles. These are now made in large quanti- 
ties, and are rapidly growing in favor; they form a durable, 
tight, and light roof of pleasing appearance, at an expense 
not greater than that of first-class slate. Some of the com- 
position roofs are very durable, if well laid, and have usually 
the merit of cheapness to recommend them. 

THE PLAN. 

The first thing to be considered by the designer is the size 
'■and arrangement of the entrances, classrooms, principal's 
rooms, etc., and their connections with the schoolroom proper. 
The entrance must be handy and easy of access, the hat-and- 
'cloak-rooms convenient, and so situated as to have direct com- 
munication from either the yard, playground, or schoolroom. 

The water-closets for the girls and boys, while being per- 
fectly isolated from each other, should be so situated that the 
children will not have to leave shelter in cold and stormy 
weather to reach them. 

A good, dry basement should always be placed under the 
entire building. I cannot too strongly condemn the practice 
■of building only trench walls, or setting the building on piers 
close to the ground, from whence the dampness is transmitted 
to the building. By the use of the basement a playroom is 
'obtainable, where delicate children can exercise without 
exposure, and in stormy weather the pupils are not confined 
to one room during the entire session. No school building is 
■complete without a playroom, and its introduction should 
always be insisted upon. 

The parallelogram form of room, while not arbitrary, is 
probably the most satisfactory ; although at times this form 
may be varied or departed from with advantageous result. 



234 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

I am not an advocate of vagaries of any kind, but I fully 
believe in ingenious, well-studied plans, and am convinced 
that there are times, especially on irregular and cramped 
sites, when it will be necessary to depart from the stereotyped 
form. 

The size of the room should be determined by the number 
of pupils which it is to accommodate. The number that should 
be assigned to a teacher varies from forty to fifty. Whatever 
the number may be, at least 20 square feet of floor-space is 
required for each. Assuming that there are 44 pupils, with 
the teacher we have 45 times 20, or 900 square feet of floor- 
space to provide, — this being the smallest permissible amount. 
I prefer, however, to provide an amount in excess of this, and 
so have shown in Plate 44 a room containing 972 square feet 
of surface, or about 21J per person. 

In the design to which I have just referred, sittings are 
provided for 44 pupils; the aisles between the desks are 20 
inches wide, and there is 10 feet between the front desk and 
the wall back of the teacher, and 4 feet in front of the plat- 
form and around the outside of the desks. The windows are 
all at the left of the pupils, the sills being 4 feet from the 
floor, and the openings run up to within i foot of the ceiling. 

By this arrangement of windows there can be no dark 
corners, as the light has to travel but a short distance to 
reach the utmost limits of the room. If the building is 
placed judiciously on the lot, sunlight — so essential to the 
health and comfort of the occupants — is furnished in abundant 
quantities, and in warm weather a free circulation of air can 
be obtained in all parts of the room by the combined use of 
the windows and the large transoms placed over the entrance 
doors. 



SUBURBAN SCHOOLHOUSES. - 235 

The arrangement of the pupils' desks is convenient and 
compact, and the situation of the teacher's platform such as 
to bring the pupils under easy supervision. 

A small teacher's room in the front is a convenience that 
will be appreciated by all who may be connected in any way 
with the school. 

The blackboards are situated back of the teacher's plat- 
form, and on the right and in the rear of the pupils. They 
are easily seen from all parts of the room and are all abun- 
dantly lighted. 

A study of the plan will clearly show the arrangement of 
porches, entrances, and hat-and-cloak-rooms. Independent 
entrances are provided, and the sexes are completely sepa- 
rated by the intervening teacher's room — this, too, without 
sacrificing in any wa)'- the convenience of the plan. Stairs 
descend from either side to the basement, the whole space 
under the schoolroom being used as a playroom. Doors in 
the rear of the playroom lead either to the boys' or girls' 
water-closets in the yard. 

The height of the main schoolroom is 13 feet in the clear, 
therefore it contains 12,636 cubic feet of air, or an allowance 
of about 280 cubic feet for each person. This amount, with 
ample floor- and glass-surface, renders the room, hygienically, 
as perfect as it is possible to arrange a room without, of 
course, considering the method of construction or the heat- 
ing and ventilating. If we are equally thorough with these 
and the sanitary arrangements, I believe we will have pro- 
duced a schoolhouse in which children can pursue theii 
studies with perfect safety. 

While I always advocate the use of stone or brick for the 
exterior walls of school buildings, let it be understood that 



■236 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

however strongly I might urge their use, it is not absolutely 
essential that they should be employed to produce a building 
based upon the same plan, and containing the same floor- 
space and cubic contents as the one just described; it is 
perfectly feasible to construct any of the designs herein pre- 
sented entirely of wood, both exterior and interior. It is in 
the methods of construction usually employed that I do not 
believe; and I shall endeavor now to describe a building con- 
structed upon what I consider correct principles and em- 
bodied in the designs presented. 

FOUNDATIONS. 

Great care should be taken with this part of the work, as 
any settlement will cause cracks and injuries to the structure 
which it will be almost impossible to remedy. Heavy footing- 
stones must be placed under all walls. The walls themselves 
should be laid in half-and-half lime and cement-mortar, with 
heavy bond-stones running through them once in every six 
superficial feet. Where basements are used as playrooms, 
the inner surface of the walls is to be faced with brick, laid 
with close-struck joints; this surface to be painted with two 
or three coats of pure lead and oil, either in white or some 
h'ght neutral tint. 

UNDERPINNING. 

At the grade level, on top of foundation walls, there 
should be laid a bluestone coping, 4" X 12'', this to project 
one inch over foundation walls; the underpinning is built from 
this coping, and should be rock-faced, random rubble, laid in 
black mortar, with one inch draft-lines at angles and around 
.all openings. 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



237 




SUBURBAN SCHOOLHOUSES. 239 

WALLS. 
If stone with brick trimmings is used, the walls should be 
26 inches thick; 16 inches of stone work, 2 inches of air- 
space, and 8-inch brick backing; the backing should be 
bonded to the outer wall by brick headers, or ties of thin iron 
or copper; — the latter are much the better, as they do not 
rust and will not transmit dampness, as is the case with the 
brick ties. All angles and around openings may be laid with 
brick, as indicated on the elevations. The cornice may be 
entirely of stone and brick and the gutters of copper. 

ROOFS. 

The roofs should be covered with metallic shingles, and 
the ventilators and cornices constructed of copper, which may 
also be used for crestings. 

With a structure built as above described you will have 
an exterior practically imperishable; and if the work is well 
done, it will be many years before any expenditure will have 
to be made for repairs. 

INTERIOR FLOORS. 

Wood is almost universally used for floor-beams; indeed, 
with one or two exceptions, I have never known of iron being 
used, even in the most expensive school buildings. Far 
better and more durable floors can be obtained by the use of 
iron, and costing but little more than first-class woodwork. 

The common way of constructing floors is to lath and 
plaster the under side, and lay flooring over the top of the 
timbers. No better way could be devised for the circula- 
tion of air and fires, and no finer highway for vermin who 
make use of tlie receptacles furnished by the builder for 



240 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

the storage of garbage collected on their marauding expedi- 
tions. The mischievous urchin also delights to poke rubbish 
into every convenient knothole he can find. I remember, 
when a boy, to have seen a venturesome schoolmate cap the 
climax by introducing a lighted match into a time-honored 
hole which had received the donations of generations of school 
children. The result must have been entirely satisfactory to 
my friend, as he succeeded in breaking up the school for 
some time, after causing a serious panic and much damage. 

To construct a floor of wood suitable for school purposes, 
extra heavy timbers must be used, which should be strongly 
bridged and stayed. They should be cross-furred on their 
under side, and wire netting should be fastened to this, on 
which to plaster; double floors should be used above, with 
heavy deadening-felt between. This makes the best wood 
floor that can be laid, but it is expensive, and is open to all 
the objections I have mentioned. Sound is easily trans- 
mitted, and the spring and oscillation caused by marching or 
calisthenic exercises produces ajar that is felt throughout the 
building, often so severe as to cause the walls to crack and 
ceilings to fall. 

Iron floor-beams are far preferable, and for ordinary spans 
need not be over 10 or 12 inches deep, and can with safety 
be placed from 5 to 8 feet on centres. Arches of hollow tile 
should be turned between these beams, so formed as to 
entirely cover them (see Plate 48). 

Strips of wood 2 inches square should be firmly secured 
to the top of the beams, to which to nail the floor, and the 
spaces betweoin these strips, on top of the arches, should be 
carefully leveled up with cement. 

A single hard-wood floor may now be laid and firmly 



SUBURBAN SCHOOLHOUSES. 24I 

nailed to the strips, and the plastering may be applied 
directly to the under side of the brick arch, without cross- 
furring, lathing, or any woodwork whatever. If hard-wood 
ceiling should be desired, it is only necessary to screw strips 
to the under side of beams, as described for the upper, and 
nail the ceiling directly to these strips. For playroom or 
basement ceilings the surface of the hollow tiles is all that is 
necessary, with carefully struck joints, to make a perfectly 
neat job. If the holes at the outer ends of the lines of hollow 
tiles are carefully stopped, as they should be, you will have 
a floor that is not only absolutely fire-proof, but through 
which vermin have no chance to circulate; sound cannot be 
transmitted through it; it is perfectly rigid, and will support 
five times the weight of a wooden floor without deflection. 
The flooring-boards should be oak, maple, or rift-grained 
yellow pine laid in narrow widths and blind-nailed. 

INSIDE WALLS. 
It is the universal custom to line all our stone or brick 
walls with wood; that is to say, we fur the inside surfaces 
of brick or stone with wood strips on which to nail lath- 
ing. Even when wire lathing is used, furring-strips cannot 
be dispensed with. This method of construction introduces 
highly inflammable material on walls that otherwise would be 
incombustible. Again: we cover the lathing with a thick 
coat of plaster — a substance of a most perishable nature, and 
which is, moreover, an absorbent which becomes loaded with 
impurities; dampness is often perceptible upon its surface, 
and it is no rare thing to see mould. However much care 
may be taken in its preparation, and carefully as it may be 
applied, it is but a short time before a dirty, grimy appear- 
ance is noticeable. 



242 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

You ask how all this is to be remedied; and I would 
answer, By the use of enamelled brick. These are made in 
large quantities and of excellent quality, in all colors; their 
surface is like porcelain and as hard as adamant; if they are 
laid with cement to match their color, they form a wall not 
easily marred, non-absorbent, and very pleasing to the eye. 
Not only the walls, but the door- and window-casings, may 
be built of these bricks, and there need be no more wood 
about the doors and windows than their actual operation 
requires, which is very little, as may be seen from the detail 
drawings on Plate 48. 

A dado may be carried around the room, of dark-brown 
or chocolate-colored bricks; above the dado a slate black- 
board of suitable size is set, and above this a field of buff or 
neutral-tinted brick, finished by a frieze, if desired, laid in 
fancy patterns of different-colored bricks. A picture mould- 
ing, from which to suspend maps, etc., should run entirely 
around the room at a suitable height, this being, with the 
blackboard band and chalk-rack, all the wood, outside of the 
doors and window-casings, required on the inside wall. This 
wood, so far as practicable, should be of ash, filled with a 
heavy coat of filler, varnished in two coats, and carefully 
rubbed down. 

A room well built, as I have described, would last, with 
ordinary care, for a century. The walls could at any time be 
scrubbed down, with hot water, or a hose turned upon them, 
without injury. The effect of a room finished in this way is 
far more pleasing than the ordinary glaring white walls, and 
I can see no sustained objection to the introduction of this 
class of work. 

For the ceiling I should recommend, in rooms that have 



SUBURBAN SCHOOLHOUSES. 243 

nothing over them, h'ght iron beams, upon which narrow ash 
ceiling-boards are firmly fastened ; where there is room over 
room, finish them, as I have before mentioned, directly on 
the hollow flooring-blocks. These wooden ceilings may be 
panelled and made as elaborate as desired, according to taste 
and the length of the purse. Or the ceiling may be first 
covered with rough boards upon which metal ceilings can be 
laid; these ceilings are now made in many pretty designs and 
have much to commend them; they are comparatively inex- 
pensive, and if kept painted are extremely durable. By all 
means, do away with plaster; it is an abomination, and the 
sooner it is banished from our schoolhouses the better it will 
be for the health of the children. 

The main argument against finishing walls as I have 
described will be, I presume, the expense; but when it is 
considered that we do away entirely with the furring, lath- 
ing, and grounds, all plastering, wainscoting, and base-boards, 
surely the difference in cost cannot be great. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

It would be well to make the floors of all rooms, except 
the school-, teacher's, and class-rooms, of encaustic tile, 
firmly bedded in cement. The entire basement should be 
treated with a heavy coat of concrete; the playroom and 
adjacent hall ma)^ have an additional covering of asphaltum, 
^such as is used for sidewalks. 

The windows of the school- and class-rooms in the ex- 
treme Northern States should have two thicknesses of glass, 
set in the same sash, about one-half inch apart (see Plate 48); 
this will answer all purposes of outside sashes, is always in 
place, and between the sessions the room can be flooded with 



244 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

pure external air, which is prevented by the use of the outer 
sash. Four h'ghts per window are best adapted for school 
use; a greater number of sash-bars only cast disagreeable 
shadows and obstruct the light. Sash should be carefully 
adjusted and balanced, and metal sash-chain used instead of 
cord ; fixtures should be so arranged that they may be easily 
worked by the teacher at all times. 

Outside blinds are not wanted on a schoolhouse, inside 
blinds are noisy and in the way, and the ordinary Venetian 
blinds and the common shade are invariably out of order 
when most needed, and are objectionable on account of flap- 
ping and blowing in the wind. The best shade that I have 
yet seen is what is known as the Wilson Rolling Venetian 
Blind. It is made of any wood desired, and is light, strong, 
and durable, noiseless in operation, and cannot blow or flap. 
While completely screening the room from the sun's rays, it 
still admits of a free circulation of air. Special provision has 
to be made for it in the construction of the building, as it 
coils up neatly either above or below the window-opening. 
(See Plate 48.) 

Doors should always have a transom over them as large 
as is practicable, operated by cords or rods; the latter is the 
better method, as the transom can be made stationary at any 
desired point. Doors should always swing out, so that in 
case of a panic there may be no obstruction to the effort to 
leave the building. 

It is better to have the teacher's platform movable, so 
that the floor can be thoroughly cleaned under it; by the use 
of hooks or bolts it can be firmly fixed in position. 

Slate blackboards, although expensive, are by far the 
best, and cost nothing for repairs. 



SUBURBAN SCHOQLHOUSES. 245 

In seating, I believe in the single desk. "While it takes 
up more room, it is much better for the child in many ways,, 
and the teacher has better control over the school. Each 
child should be given all the floor-space possible, and there 
should be a free circulation of air all around him. 

I would say a word just here concerning the modern 
school desk. While there is an unlimited number of patent 
desks before the public, neat and even elegant in style and 
finish, I do not know of one in which the seats are even com- 
fortable; the backs are concave where they ought to be con- 
vex, and vice versa ; the seats are usually too high, and their 
shape is such that only monstrosity would fit them; it is a. 
shame to force any child to occupy, day after day, chairs sO' 
ill adapted to the requirements of health and comfort. I am- 
glad to be able to say that, under the direction of the ener- 
getic Board of Education of the city in which I write, a large 
New York firm have undertaken to manufacture desks and 
chairs for their new school building, designed upon a 
common-sense principle, combining simplicity, utility, com-^ 
fort, and elegance. 

WATER-CLOSETS, ETC. 

Whatever care may be taken in the construction of other 
parts of the building, the structure, so far as its healthful 
usefulness is concerned, will be a failure if the sanitary 
arrangements are neglected. 

I am aware that it is an uncommon occurrence to find 
water-closets in any school building outside of a city. Privies 
situated in the yard are considered sufficient. They are 
usually poorly built, and are only accessible by exposure to 
the weather, and are anything but elevating to the morals o£ 



246 MODEJiA AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

the children. In some instances you will find privy vaults 
under the same roof that covers the schoolroom — this, too, 
without any attempt at ventilation. The evils arising from 
a vault so situated cannot be estimated. In some cases 
earth-closets have been introduced with success, and if 
properly built and systematically looked after they work 
well, and can be placed in such a position that a child need 
not be exposed to the cold or wet in passing to and from 
them. 

I think there is nothing better than a good water-closet 
or latrine, properly set, and can see no reason why they 
should not be generally used in suburban schoolhouses. 
From the roofs of ordinary structures large quantities of rain- 
water may be collected and stored in cisterns conveniently 
located. These, with a good well, should furnish an ample 
supply of water, that can be pumped by an ordinary force- 
pump, supplied with a two-way cock, from the well or cistern 
into a tank in the attic, A few minutes' work by the wind- 
mill daily will keep the tank properly filled. As the school 
is closed during the hot, dry months, when sometimes we 
have a drought, there can be little danger of the water failing, 
provided a reasonable amount of care is exercised in its use. 
With a good circulation of water assured, there can be no 
objection to the use of closets. A simple hopper of porcelain 
is the best, arranged with iron service- and feed-boxes over- 
head, the valves in the boxes to be connected with the wooden 
seat over hoppers in such a manner that the weight of the 
occupant will cause a flow of water, flushing the closet 
thoroughly each time it is used. 

The floors of the closets, except under hoppers, should 
be of tiles, and the side walls of enamelled brick, as before 



SUBURBAN SCHOOLHOUSES. 247 

described. That portion of the floor upon which the hoppers 
stand should be of dark-blue slate, about 2 feet wide and 2 
inches thick. The hopper should be firmly bolted to the 
slate with brass bolts, an outlet being cut through the slate 
for the mouth of the hopper. There should be a slate parti- 
tion between each hopper about 6 feet high, 2 feet broad, 
and i\ inches thick, A light metal frame and capping should 
hold this in position. The seats should be of wood, resting 
on cleats that should be bolted through the slate partitions. 

The urinals may be simply slate troughs with backs of the 
same material, or the individual porcelain urinals that are in 
common use. 

A marble wash-bowl should be provided in each dressing- 
room, and drinking-water pumped directly from the well. 
The hoppers should be of white porcelain exposed to view. 
The soil-pipes and traps should run out of the building as 
quickly as possible, and be easily accessible for inspection at 
all times. It is well to paint their outer surface white, as 
any leak or escape of gas quickly causes discoloration and is 
at once detected. 

The utmost care should be taken in the ventilation of the 
traps, pipes, and drains, as, however costly the fixtures may 
be, unless they are properly ventilated they will be objec- 
tionable. 

As no public drainage is likely to exist, a cesspool will 
probably have to be used for the reception of sewage. Let 
this be removed as far as possible from the building, and 
placed in some remote, unfrequented corner of the lot. By 
all means use a tight cesspool, and do not on any condition 
use the leaching cesspool, as it is impossible to tell what 
course may be taken underground by the filth discharged 



248 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

from it. Pollution of well- or spring-water at long distances, 
has often been traced to this cause, while hundreds of undis- 
covered cases now exist. A tight receptacle of ample size, 
thoroughly built and properly ventilated, will not be obnox- 
ious, and can be pumped out once or twice a year at a small 
expense. It would be useless to attempt a system of sub- 
irrigation for a single building of small size, for while this 
disposal of liquid waste has much to recommend it when 
planned upon an extensive scale, I do not consider that it can 
be practically applied to a single building without a very 
large expenditure of money. 

HEATING AND VENTILATION. 

Under this head will be found the true test of the success- 
ful hygienic construction of a building. To heat any room 
to a required temperature in the coldest weather is a very 
simple matter. To bring into the room a suf^cient supply of 
pure, warm air, to remove the vitiated air, maintaining at all 
times and in all parts of the room a steady circulation or 
mixing of the air without causing unpleasant drafts, is a 
far more difficult thing to do. That it can be satisfactorily 
done is only a question of understandingly applying the 
means that are at hand. 

In the smaller rooms and the halls of the accompanying 
plans I would use direct steam. In the main schoolroom the 
indirect system will be far better. 

Before going into the details of the heating apparatus, it 
would be well to consider briefly the requirements of the 
schoolroom, the quantity of air that it is necessary to supply, 
the capacity and position of the incoming and outgoing regis- 
ters, and the general laws governing the movements of air. 



SUBURBAN SCHOOLHOUSES. ' 249 

The schoolrooms that are shown in the accompanying 
plans contain about 12,536 cubic feet of air, an average of 
about 278^ cubic feet per person. I believe in supplying to 
each occupant as near 30 cubic feet of pure warmed air per 
minute as possible. To do this, we shall be obliged to bring 
into the room every hour 1350 cubic feet per person, or a 
grand total of 81,000 cubic feet. Of course, if this amount 
is brought in, proper provision must be made for its removal 
as soon as it has become vitiated, which will cause the dis- 
placement of all the air in the room about 6f times each 
hour, or once in about 9 minutes. Some may consider the 
quantities I have named in excess of the actual requirements, 
and that it is not possible to introduce and move such quan- 
tities of air unless a gigantic apparatus is used and an 
enormous amount of fuel consumed. In answer to the first 
objection, I would say that the highest medical authorities 
insist upon about the same amount as a standard; and to the 
latter, that if the apparatus is properly constructed and under- 
standingly handled, no unnecessary expense will be incurred. 

There is much diversity of opinion among experts as to 
the position of incoming and outgoing registers. Many 
-advocate placing the incoming registers in the floor, some on 
the side walls near the floor, and a few high up on the side 
walls. The latter is the only proper place for them, and it 
seems to me the worst kind of bigotry, with our knowledge 
of the action of warmed and cooled air, to insist that the floor 
is the best place. We all know that warm, pure air is light 
and will rise rapidly to the top of the room, no matter at 
what point it is introduced. It is an equally well-established 
fact that foul air is heavy and settles in the lower part of the 
Toom. I cannot understand why, with these facts before us, 



250 MaDERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

it is still sometimes argued that the floor is the best place for 
registers. If you introduce the pure, warmed air there, you 
are bound by natural laws to carry it through a stratum of 
impure air before it reaches the top of the room; and I think 
no one will have the hardihood to claim that it has passed 
through without becoming contaminated. 

Why, then, is it not better to avoid this contamination, 
and bring the air into the room as near the ceiling as is prac- 
ticable ? Your registers will cost no more, and the additional 
pipe required is a very small matter. 

Another strong objection to floor registers is that dust and 
dirt are continually deposited in them, especially when not in 
use: this dust is mixed with the incoming air, and carried 
directly to the lungs of the occupants of the room. An 
objection some will make to wall registers is that children 
cannot warm their feet at them. Much better arrangements 
for this purpose are " foot-warmers," consisting of coils of 
steam-pipe placed between the floor-beams, encased in tin, 
and packed in coarse sand to temper the heat; on the top 
they are covered with flat iron plates, countersunk, and flush 
with the top surface of the floor. These plates should have 
their top surface roughened with some neat pattern to prevent 
slipping. The plates may be placed with advantage in the 
entrance-halls and hat-and-cloak-rooms, and by their use a 
steady, uniform heat is obtained„ The tight iron plate 
renders the collection of dust upon the surface of the pipes, 
impossible. 

The outlet-registers should be placed at the floor-level, 
for the air settles there as it cools and becomes laden with 
impurities, and it should be our aim to remove it as quickly 
as possible. Outlets are invariably made too small; it is. 



SUBURBAN SCHOOLHOUSES. 25 I 

absurd to attempt to bring large quantities of pure warmed 
air into a room unless ample provision is made for its re- 
moval. It is safe to assume that if the foul air is with- 
drawn, enough pure air will find its way into the room to 
supply the vacuum, the greater portion coming, of course, 
from the heating apparatus. 

It has been repeatedly proved by experiments that from 
two to three times as much air will flow through an outgoing 
as through an incoming flue, which indicates, in rooms of 
ordinary construction, a continual suction into them of the 
outer air. It is a mistaken idea to think that foul air will 
obligingly meander through the small and intricate passages 
laid out for it, without some motive power for its propulsion. 
The exhaust-flues must not only be of large dimensions, 
running with as few turns as possible directly to the outer air, 
but some means must be employed to assure a steady outward 
current. An exhaust- or suction-fan placed in the outlets 
would undoubtedly be the surest way of accomplishing this, 
but this must be operated by an expensive apparatus, and 
can only be successfully applied to a very large building. 
The simplest and most practical method of maintaining the 
current is by the introduction of heat into the outgoing ducts. 
This may be generated from a steam-pipe running through 
the flue, by a small stove placed at the lower end, with the 
smoke-pipe running up through it, by a gas-jet kept contin- 
ually burning during the sessions, or even by a lighted lamp 
set in the flues. 

For the reasons before cited, the outgoing flues should be 
at least twice as large as the incoming, no matter how large 
the latter may be; they should be placed on the inside walls 
of the room at the floor-level. 



252 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. ^ 

The hot-air registers, for the introduction of pure warmed 
air, I have placed directly over the outlet-registers, and high 
up on the side walls. By this plan I am enabled to concen- 
trate all the heating and ventilating apparatus on one side of 
the room. 

The flues for the introduction of pure warm air are all in- 
tended to be large, and the flow of air through them moderate 
and steady. The pipes, where they enter the room, should 
be splayed or trumpet-shaped, the register being one third 
larger than the flue. The flue itself should be of tin or gal- 
vanized iron encased in brick, and should extend vertically 
from the register in the room downward to the heating-surface 
placed in the basement. This heating-surface may consist of 
coils of I -inch pipe staggered, and placed one above the 
other, or of some one of the many indirect radiators that are 
in the market. 

One great fault that I have to find with most of the 
radiators now in use is that there is not sufficient provision 
made for the flow of air through them. The air which does 
flow through them is usually overheated and while the tem- 
perature of the room is easily maintained at the required 
point, the supply of air furnished is inadequate. I have had 
great trouble in finding radiators with sufficient air-space, and 
have resorted to various expedients, more or less successful, 
to overcome this deficiency. Whatever radiators may be 
used, they should be enclosed in metal jackets tightly fitted 
to the flue at the top, extending down over the sides, and 
closely connected with metal plates on the bottom. These 
plates should be in direct communication with the cold-air 
duct, and perforated over their entire surface with i-inch 
holes, placed 2 inches on centres, these serving as distributers 



SUBURBAN SCHOOLHOUSES. 253 

of the cold air to the radiating-surface, which should not be 
placed in one mass, but subdivided into at least three sec- 
tions, having one main supply-pipe, with branches con- 
trolled by gate-valves for each radiator. By this arrange- 
ment, one, two, or three sections may be used at pleasure, 
and the supply of air, while remaining always the same, is 
raised or lowered to the temperature required by the turning 
of a valve. 

The cold-air ducts should be of brick, laid close-jointed in 
cement, protected at the outer opening with a register-plate 
or coarse wire netting. The supply of cold air should always 
be taken at least 6 feet from the ground, and should flow as 
directly as possible to the heating-surface; the flue should be 
provided with a damper by which the flow of air may be 
regulated. 

I have not as yet given the size of the incoming and out- 
going flues for a room of the capacity of the one here pre- 
sented. This depends much upon its length. The longer 
the flue, the greater the velocity of the flow of air through 
It; consequently its size may be reduced in proportion to 
its length. The flues in question are about 12 feet long; 
according to Montgolfiier's formula, a flue with a capacity of 
2^ feet square, 12 feet long, will discharge into a room, 
allowing 30° difference in the temperature, 750 cubic feet of 
air per minute, or 45,000 cubic feet per hour. Two flues of 
this capacity will introduce 90,000 cubic feet each hour, which 
is slightly in excess of the amount actually required, but it is 
better to increase rather than diminish the supply. The in- 
troduction of this air will change the atmosphere at least six 
times each hour, rendering it perfectly healthful at all times. 
-It is safe to assume that, for rooms of the size here shown. 



254 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

one flue with a capacity of 5 square feet, or two flues with 
a capacity of 2\ square feet each, will be required for the 
incoming hot air. The outlets must have an area of at least 
10 square feet. Both incoming and outgoing registers must 
be one third larger than the flues or ducts. 

The best of our steam-heaters require, for indirect heat- 
ing, I foot of heating-surface to every 40 feet of air. At this 
ratio it would require about 316 feet of indirect heating-sur- 
face for the room of which we are writing. When it is con- 
sidered, however, that every hour we are introducing 90,000 
cubic feet of air, and that this amount must be properly 
warmed, it can be readily seen that more heating-surface will 
be required. It will be found that i foot of heating-surface 
to every 20 feet of air will be amply sufficient to heat the 
room even in the coldest weather. I should prefer to use 
'three 150-foot radiators in each stack, a total of 900 feet of 
heating-surface for the room. This will give i foot of heat- 
ing-surface for every 100 feet of pure air introduced, or i foot 
for about every 14 feet actually contained in the room. It 
is to be understood that this amount is not to be used at all 
times: one third of it will answer for ordinary cool weather, 
two thirds for sharp winter weather, the whole capacity being 
called into use only on the coldest days. 

It is short-sighted economy to construct a small apparatus 
to commence with, hoping it will prove of sufificient size. It 
is better far to have the capacity in excess of what is actually 
required than below it. Bear in mind that it is cheaper to 
run a large boiler at two thirds its actual power, than a small 
one when taxing it. 

For the playroom, water-closets, hat-and-cloak-rooms, 
and halls, direct heat may be used in the form of circulation- 



SUBURBAN SCHOOLHOUSES. _ 255 

pipes. In the basement rooms these should be hung from 
the ceiling, and be of sufficient quantity to allow i foot of 
heating-surface for every 60 cubic feet of air. By hanging 
these pipes from the ceiling they will be out of the way, and 
the heat will be where it should be, at the top of the room. 
They may be bronzed over, and will not be unpleasant to 
look at. The outlets for these rooms should be, as in the 
schoolroom, large and at the floor-level. The teacher's room 
should have a small direct radiator. 

The position of the boiler is clearly shown on the plans. 
The make should be decided by the architect employed by 
the committee. There are so many first-class boilers in the 
market that with ordinary precautions a suitable one may be 
obtained; only insist upon a large size, and ample grate- 
surface. 

I have not spoken of other methods of heating in this 
article, for the reason that I consider steam the only suitable 
one for school buildings. The best of the hot-air furnaces, 
are abominable, and stoves are equally as bad; in the use of 
either you are debarred from securing even a moderate sup- 
ply of fresh warmed air. The small amount that it is possible 
to obtairi has all the life burned out of it by contact with 
overheated surfaces, and enters the room usually laden with 
gas. The supply of air should always be large, but in no 
case overheated. The volume introduced should be relied 
upon to maintain a pleasant temperature. The use of stoves 
or hot-air furnaces will not permit of this, and for this reason, 
if for no other, they should be banished from school struc- 
tures. 

I have thus far spoken only of the heating and ventilating 
of the rooms during cold weather. For that portion of the 



256 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

year when no artificial heat is required there can be no better 
inlets for fresh air than the windows. There are many simple 
devices that a little ingenuity will arrange successfully for the 
outlets. With the windows dropped at the top, and the 
transoms open, little more will be required in clear weather. 
On damp and stormy days a large circular register, placed in 
the centre of the ceiling, and directly connected with the 
ventilator on the main roof, will be found sufificient. The 
ceiling registers in the halls and hat-and-cloak-rooms may be 
connected with the main ventilators by metal pipes, an 
upgoing current being maintained in them at all times by 
artificial heat. 

A thorough "flushing" of the rooms with outside air 
should be insisted upon, both in summer and winter, before 
and after sessions, and at recess. As soon as the children 
leave the room, all doors and windows should be opened to 
their fullest extent, and the air be allowed to sweep through 
them unimpeded. With a proper apparatus the required 
temperature of the room will be quickly restored. 

In conclusion, I would say that the buildings shown in 
both designs can be easily doubled in capacity by placing a 
floor above the one now shown. As I said before, I have not 
tried in either design to produce a cheap building, but have 
endeavored, by the use of the best materials combined with 
sound construction and a careful consideration of the require- 
ments of the occupants, to show that structures can be built 
having all the comforts of ordinary ones without their objec- 
tionable features. 

While many of the theories I advance may be new, and 
consequently not looked upon with favor, it will still be 
acknowledged that an honesty of purpose in my plea for 



SUBURBAN SCHOOLHOUSES. .257 

better buildings for the young has alone actuated me. If the 
perusal of these pages will in any way help to improve the 
condition of existing schools, or show a better way to con- 
struct those about to be built, my aim will be accomplished. 



MODERISr AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



259 




Si 



O 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



261 




CHAPTER XV. 

THE PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOL- 
HOUSES.* 

Some years ago I was employed by the Board of Educa- 
tion of a certain city to examine a large schoolhouse and 
suggest, if possible, some way of improving the heating and 
ventilation of the structure. While engaged upon this work 
my attention was for the first time forcibly directed to the 
evils that exist in the majority of modern school buildings. 
In my professional career up to the time of which I speak, 1 
had never been called upon to design a building that was to 
be entirely devoted to educational purposes; in a general way 
the requirements were known to me, but no special thought 
or study had been given to the subject. In the present 
instance, however, I gave the matter my undivided attention 
and carefully searched not only home but foreign authorities 
for reliable data that would instruct and enlighten me. 
Existing structures were examined; superintendents, princi- 
pals, and teachers were questioned as to their experiences and 

* The following pages originally appeared as a series of articles which 
were written for and published in Architecture and Building during the 
year 1886. They have long since been practically out of print, and, as 
there is a constant demand for them, it has been deemed wise to republish 
them in this work ; they have been rewritten and reillustrated, and a 
chapter on city schools added. In their present form they fully embrace 
the theories that have been advanced in other portions of the work. 

263 



264 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

conclusions; in short, no pains were spared to learn all that 
could be learned of practical use. While much valuable in- 
formation was obtained from these sources, but few, I may- 
say no buildings were found where the principles laid down 
by experts and suggested by experience had been combined. 

So interested did I become in this subject that that which 
at first was merely a part of the regular routine of ofifice work 
soon developed into a hobby which is, to-day, being ridden 
with as much vigor as when it was first mounted. It seems 
to me that this branch of my calling has not had as many 
devotees as many others, and I am inclined to the belief that 
one who makes a specialty of any department of his profes- 
sion is better qualified in that branch than those who have 
not devoted the same time and attention to it. As I have 
gotten into this special "rut," if I may so call it, and have 
met with success, I feel as if I could intelligibly point out 
existing defects in school buildings and suggest practical 
remedies for them. 

The principles and theories here advanced are those 
deduced entirely from practical experience in the con- 
struction of school buildings during the last fifteen years; 
in this time it has been my good fortune to be called 
upon to design buildings ranging from the one-room village 
schoolhouse up to the normal-school building of a State, 
The experience thus gained has been invaluable; and from 
the very flattering reception given to some former articles of 
mine on this subject, I am led to believe that a series of illus- 
trated papers will prove of interest not only to those of my 
own profession, but to all who are interested in the physical 
and mental welfare of children. 

As I purpose to speak only of public-school buildings, 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. - 265 

and as there are several distinct classes that come under 
this head, I shall, for convenience' sake, divide them as 
follows: 

First Class.— ^)x& normal school, and buildings devoted 
entirely to the use of what is known as the " high school." 

Second Class, — The buildings devoted to both high and 
grammar schools, and grammar-school buildings containing 
from twelve rooms upward. 

Third Class. — The grammar school proper, containing 
from six to twelve rooms, and the combined grammar and 
primary schools, containing from three to six rooms. ^' 

Fourth Class. — The village or district school, containing 
from one to three rooms, 

I shall discuss these various classes, beginning with the 
last here enumerated; in other words, the first illustrations 
and descriptions will be of the fourth-class structure, which 
will be succeeded in regular order by the various classes, 
until the first is reached and included. 

A public schoolhouse differs in many ways from other 
buildings; no matter in which class it may be placed, it is 
essentially a working building, although its working hours are 
short. The ordinary school sessions are from nine to twelve 
and from two until four, allowing thirty minutes before and 
after each session for those who voluntarily come early and 
are involuntarily detained; therefore, out of every twenty- 
four hours there are seven that the building is being used and 
seventeen in which it is practically deserted. 

In the seven hours that it is in use there are crowded into 
far too limited a space children from every class in the com- 
munity; it is, in fact, a heterogeneous assemblage, gathered 
together for one purpose; for the time being it is expected 



266 MODEEN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

that each and every one will concentrate his energies upon 
the task set for him. 

We are all proud of the progress our children make in the 
public schools, but we must know that their rapid advance 
is only obtained by hard and persistent study. Any thinking 
man or woman knows that a child cannot do as well nor pur- 
sue a continuous course of this hard work in overcrowded, 
badly ventilated, and poorly lighted rooms without sooner 
or later feeling their injurious effects. It is generally con- 
ceded that factory operatives work in extremely uncomfort- 
able quarters; and yet, in the many factories with which I am 
familiar, I do not know of one where the occupants have not, 
as a rule, more square feet of floor-space, a greater number 
of cubic feet of air, generally an abundance of light, and 
usually better facilities for heating than can be found in the 
school buildings situated in the immediate neighborhood. 
Admitting that the working hours of the factory hands are 
longer, and that they are older and better able to withstand 
the strain to which they are subjected, I still have a firm con- 
viction that if they were to be placed in as large numbers 
within the limited space, and under the same conditions, as 
the pupils in many schools, and required to work on full time 
week after week, they would not be able to stand what they 
do in their homely factory. Neither would you nor I, day 
after day, be willing to go through what we expect of children. 
How frequently we complain of the bad atmosphere or the 
uncomfortable heat or cold that we experience while attend- 
ing church, lecture, or theatre, although we are being enter- 
tained instead of working, and are pleasantly detained, at 
most, but two or three hours. It may be said that school- 
rooms are more comfortable than churches, theatres, or 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS, 



267 










MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



269 




PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. - 27 1 

lecture-halls, but I beg to differ with those who take such 
a view of the case; that they may be made so I am bound 
to admit, and that they soon will be I sincerely hope. 

ROOMS. 

One of the first requirements of a schoolroom is suf^cient 
floor-space; to determine what this space shall be we must 
know at the outset how many pupils the room is to accom- 
modate. This should be an invariable rule in school con- 
struction, for it is the master key of the successful planning 
of a schoolroom on hygienic principles, no matter what the 
shape of the room may be. I am frequently asked how large 
I should recommend ordinary grammar schoolrooms to be 
built, and I invariably reply, " Tell me how many pupils you 
desire to put into a room and I will tell you how large it 
should be." My rule is to allow at least 20 square feet of 
floor-space per pupil, never less — always get as much more 
as you can. Rooms to contain 46 pupils would require, cal- 
culating in this way, 920 square feet of floor-surface, and, as 
the teacher must be looked after, I should recommend a room 
27 X 36; this would give 972 square feet of floor-space, or 
2\\ square feet for each occupant. If the reader will take 
pains to count the pupils and measure the rooms in some 
of the schools with which he may be familiar, he will find 
how far short they usually come of this standard. I have 
given a greater length than breadth to the room mentioned, 
for the reason that a room so planned is easier to construct 
than one that is perfectly square, on account of the lessen- 
ing of the span, and I know of no objection whatevci to 
this shape. I am sorry to say that in most of my buildings 
I have been obliged to make rooms large enough to accom- 



272 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

modate 50 pupils; they contain invariably at least 1064 
square feet of floor-surface, being 28 X 38 in size. While 
the same proportion of space per head is obtained and in 
the same general form, it is a mistake to burden a teacher 
with so many pupils; from 40 to 44, I believe, are all to 
v/hom they can do justice. I am u^ell aware that this is far 
below the average number that they are expected to in- 
struct; but because a bad precedent has been created there 
is no reason why it should be everlastingly followed. A 
machine is built with a certain capacity, and when that 
capacity is exceeded one of two things follows: either poor 
work is produced or there is a breakdown. The thought 
has often occurred to me, when watching the public-school 
teachers in their seemingly endless round of routine work, 
that they are simply human machines whose capacity is far 
more abused than those constructed by the hands of men. 
While this subject is only indirectly connected with the con- 
struction of schools, to my mind it is an evil that should be 
eradicated; let there be fewer pupils per teacher, more and 
larger rooms to put them in, and both teachers and scholars 
will be benefited thereby. 

The floor-space of our room being determined by the 
number of pupils who are to occupy it, we can, in the same 
way, obtain the height of ceiling required, for our next con- 
sideration must be the amount of cubic space allowed per 
pupil; there is a wide difference of opinion among experts in 
regard to this; the minimum space I have found to be 
variously estimated from 100 to 300 cubic feet per pupil. I 
have, for my own use, established a minimum of 250 cubic 
feet of air per pupil. This would require, in a room contain- 
ing 972 square feet, a ceiling height of 12 feet 6 inches in the 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. - 273 

clear. I should prefer, however, to give the room the height 
of 13 feet in the clear and obtain, by so doing, about 275 
cubic feet of air per pupil. 

Plates 49, 50, 51, and 52 represent structures of the 
fourth class, each containing one schoolroom, the buildings 
being constructed in one instance of wood and in the other of 
fieldstone and brick. While they are entirely different in 
plan, the rules here advocated have been carefully carried out 
in both. 

LIGHTING. 

The mode of determining the size of a room being settled, 
our next and no less important consideration is its lighting. 
This, as in the preceding cases, is to be arbitrarily decided by 
the number of pupils. Long experience has led me to believe 
that the placing of the windows at the left of the pupil is 
preferable to all others; I am also convinced that they should 
be grouped as much as possible, that their stools should be 
about 4 feet from the floor, and that their opening should 
extend as near to the ceiling as the proper construction of the 
buliding will allow. It is asserted by some writers on this 
subject that no school windows should have a circular head; 
if this be true and if the teachings of a riper experience prove 
to me that the introduction of a circular-headed window into 
a schoolroom is objectionable, I am not so bigoted as not to 
be open to conviction; but until I have better authority than 
any now known to me condemning the arch, I shall continue 
to use it, in its various forms, in my designs. 

The position of the windows having been determined, the 
size of their .openings must next be considered. Experts 
differ as to the amount of glass surface required per pupil; 



274 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

some good authorities require that it should equal one fifth 
or one sixth of the floor-area, while others state that from 300 
to 350 square inches per pupil is sufficient. While I think 
that one fifth of the floor-area is more than is necessary, 
unless under the most adverse conditions, I am convinced 
that 300 square inches is insufficient under the most favorable 
circumstances. What is meant by "adverse conditions" is 
rooms that are shadowed, as is often the case in cities, by 
large buildings, or rooms that are badly planned or situated 
so as to be masked by some other portion of the building of 
which they form a part; these errors should not exist in a 
well-studied structure, but that they do exist is an undeniable 
fact. Undoubtedly, in \vell-proportioned rooms with a clear 
space of at least 100 feet on the sides in which the windows 
are placed, from 400 to 450 inches of glass surface per pupil 
is enough for any schoolroom, and I have adopted this as 
my standard. In the later buildings that I have designed 
I have increased rather than diminished the size of the 
windows, and believe that they are improved thereby. 

Having fixed upon the floor-area, the cubic space, and the 
amount of glass surface in such a manner that the highest 
medical authorities or most exacting exponents of hygiene 
cannot gainsay their correctness, it would seem that if suit- 
able materials have been used in construction, proper heating 
and ventilating insured, and the subordinate parts of the 
structure as carefully studied, a model building would be 
produced. 

ENTRANCES. 

Second only in importance to the schoolroom proper are 
the entrances, halls, and stairways. These are usually far too 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



275 







1 I ,i ^.::-' . 1^ ■ '■■'it, ! rTT^BW*'- 



M II »„. 




CD8 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



277 




CS 




PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. 279 

contracted, badly arranged, poorly lighted, and, almost in- 
variably, dangerous in their construction. What I mean by 
dangerous will be more fully explained under the head of 
staircases. 

As far as is practicable, I believe in the separation of the 
sexes in our public schools, no matter what the grade may be. 
Believing this, separate entrances are provided for the boys 
and girls wherever it is possible, even in the one-room build- 
ing. The entrances may open onto a porch to be used in 
common, or separate porches may be planned; it is well to 
provide one or the other even in the smaller class of build- 
ings. The open porch is a most useful and valuable acquisi- 
tion to a school building, not only as an architectural feature, 
but for its general utility, provided always that it is so placed 
as in no way to interfere with the light and air of the school- 
rooms. A good, roomy porch not only serves as a protection 
to children who may arrive before the doors are opened on 
stormy mornings, but enables them to stamp the snow and 
mud from their feet, close their umbrellas, and shake the 
superfluous moisture from their clothing before entering the 
hall proper 

HALLS. 

Even in the smallest building the halls should be wide 
enough to allow two or more persons to pass without crowd- 
ing. They should lead as directly as possible from the 
entrance to the schoolroom door; be easily accessible from 
the side-entrance halls, hat-and-cloak-rooms, etc., and, above 
all, be thoroughly lighted and ventilated. 

On the floor-plans of the village schools all the above 
requirements have been fulfilled without wasting room or 



28o MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

sacrificing the architectural proportions of the buildings. See 
Plates 49, 50, 51. 52, 53, 54, 55, and 56. 

SIDE AND REAR ENTRANCES AND PORCHES. 

In the plans shown, side and rear entrances and porches 
are introduced leading respectively to the boys' and girls' 
yards. It is not claimed that these are absolutely necessary, 
or that the building would be incomplete without them, but 
that by their use many important and useful features are 
gained; a direct communication with each yard is obtained, 
and, if these are properly fenced, pupils are kept from the 
village street or the highway; there is no commingling of the 
sexes, as would be the case if it were necessary to use the 
front entrance; moreover, by the use of these entrances the 
pupils have no occasion for going to the front door during 
school hours, unless sent on some special errand by the 
teacher; the mud and dirt of the playground are not 
besmeared over the front-entrance porches, and in case of a 
sudden panic causing a stampede from the schoolroom, two 
additional exits are provided. 

teacher's ROOM. 

The introduction of this room will probably be criticised 
and its practical use doubted. It is by no means superfluous 
in designs of this class, and good and sufificient reasons for its 
use can be given. Almost all parents, sooner or later, during 
the education of their children, have occasion to visit the 
teacher; if they do not, they should, for not only should 
there be a perfect understanding between the teacher and the 
pupil, but also between the teacher and the parent. Those 
parents who do occasionally visit the teacher or school prob- 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. .28 1 

ably remember how agreeable it is to hold a whispered con- 
sultation on the platform before a gaping roomful of pupils, 
or how satisfactory a tete-a-tete is in an uncomfortable hall 
where the visitor, perhaps after a long walk, is obliged to 
stand, and the teacher, holding the schoolroom door ajar, 
peeps anxiously into the room every few seconds, in the hope 
•of catching an unfortunate urchin in some misdemeanor. If 
the superintendent, committeemen, or school visitors call, 
•they have to go through the same manoeuvres; if a pupil has 
been especially refractory and has been in some malicious 
mischief that renders it necessary for him to be brought 
before the committee in the presence of the teacher and 
perhaps the parent, would not the schoolhouse where the 
trouble occurred be the proper place to investigate it, and 
that, too, during school hours, so that other pupils could be 
-called upon if required ? Is there any place provided in the 
ordinary schoolhouses where such an investigation could be 
carried on ? Again, in the case of punishing a pupil it has 
either to be done after school hours or before the whole room, 
•unless some place of retirement is provided. 

Teacher's rooms, situated as those shown in the plans 
under discussion, can be used for all the purposes mentioned 
above and for many others; and they are equally useful for 
recitation-rooms. When they are placed where indicated on 
some of the plans, there might be introduced, in the wall, back 
of the platforms, sashes of moderate size, glazed with clear 
;glass, which would enable the teacher to keep a general 
supervision over both rooms, no matter which one she might 
be in; these sashes can be arranged to slide so as to obtain a 
iree circulation of air in summer, and could have a neat 
curtain to screen them when desirable. 



282 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

It is not required that there should be a teacher's room 
for every schoolroom, but that there should be at least one 
for every building, and where there are male and female 
teachers employed there should be one for each sex. In the 
larger buildings, containing four or more rooms on each story, 
it is well to have such a room on every floor, and, where it is 
possible, arrangements should be made to have neat toilet- 
rooms connected. Rooms of this kind add greatly to the 
comfort of the teachers, and it seems to me absurd to claim 
that they are an unwarranted luxury. 

The stone buildings that are shown on Plates 51 and 55 
are intended to be constructed of the common quarry stone, 
such as may be had in almost every town, and a good quality 
hard-burned local brick; the workmanship need only be well 
done, and any good village mason is competent to do it. 

Plates 53, 54, 55, and $6 illustrate suburban buildings, 
containing two schoolrooms. It is obvious that either design 
may be doubled in capacity by the addition of a story directly 
over those shown, of the same size and arrangement. The 
stairs would ascend over those that now descend to the base- 
ment, and all exterior and interior lines would remain the 
same, with the exception of being extended vertically. 

HAT-AND-CLOAK-ROOMS. 

Usually there is but little attention given to these rooms; 
about all that is required is that they shall be large enough 
to contain the requisite number of hooks. Frequently we 
find them long, narrow rooms that should more properly be 
called passages, connected with the hall at one end and with 
the schoolroom at the other. As a rule, they are poorly^ 
lighted and there is rarely any attempt made to heat or ven- 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

I 



283 







u k in 

44i mm 

\ Will i 




II 



D^ 1 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



285 




PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. 28/ 

tilate them, and yet there are no rooms in the building, 
outside of the water-closets, which are more liable to be offen- 
sive. The hat-and-cloak-room of a large public school is not, 
at its best, particularly agreeable, and when the outer gar- 
ments of a score or more of pupils, gathered from all classes 
of the community, are saturated with moisture, hung closely 
together and permitted to steam hour after hour in a close 
atmosphere, an efifluvium is thrown off which, while not as 
objectionable as sewer-gas, is sufficiently so to be extremely 
disagreeable and unhealthy. 

In some schools a large room or rooms in the basement is 
used for hanging hats and cloaks, the garments of two or 
three hundred pupils being gathered together. This method 
is open to several serious objections; more or less thieving is 
bound to occur, as the pupils of the several rooms in the 
building are not always dismissed at the same time, and those 
pupils who go out first have access to all the garments; when 
the pupils are all dismissed at the same time there is apt to be 
a great deal of confusion. Where there are so many garments 
gathered together there is also great danger of the transmission 
of epidemical diseases. It may be said, in answer to the first 
objections mentioned, that monitors would prevent thieving 
and preserve order. They might, in a measure ; but an urchin 
who is through with his tasks for the day and has only to 
cross the threshold to be free is rather an unruly subject, 
and when you come to multiply him by fifty or a hundred, it 
can readily be seen that the monitor's duty is no sinecure. 

Every one will admit that hat-and-cloak-rooms should be 
well lighted, carefully heated, and amply ventilated. In 
some of the accompanying designs hat-and-cloak-rooms of 
ordinary construction are shown, although special provision 



288 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

for ventilation has been made in the ceiHng. In others a 
very different and far better arrangement is given. The hat. 
and-cloak-rooms required for the schoolrooms are grouped in 
the hall, of which, in fact, they form a part. No lath or 
plaster partitions are used in their construction, they having 
merely simple light partitions of wood supported by corner 
posts, with bottom, middle, and top rails running between 
them. These rooms are entirely open at the top, and only 
the posts run down to the floor; the bottom rails and doors 
are kept about 4 inches from the floor, thus securing a free 
circulation of air throughout. They are heated and venti- 
lated with the halls. 

The doors of these rooms or compartments swing both 
ways. On the inside, at a suitable height, strong hook-strips 
are placed on which are screwed the hooks. 

I have used rooms of this description in all grades of 
buildings with marked success. Usually they have been con- 
structed of matched and beaded hard wood in narrow strips, 
but if it is desired they can be made more pleasing to the 
eye by the use of panel-work. Their great advantage lies in 
their perfect ventilation, convenience, and the comparatively 
small amount of space that they occupy. 

The illustrations on Plates 57 and 58 show a three-room 
building constructed of wood. By referring to Plates 29 and 
30 a three-room building of brick will be seen. 

WATER-CLOSETS, PRIVIES, ETC. 

The sanitary arrangements of village and suburban school- 
houses are, with few exceptions, of the most objectionable 
nature. A carelessly constructed privy, situated at some 
distance in the rear of the schoolhouse, is the usual accom- 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



289 






'"■^^"^ Will 
is]'.. If' 








Si 
ill i 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 29I 



Plate 58. 




Three: Roo/a Bvildi/ig 

in WOOD — 



First Story Plan 
I 




t3A5t(»\E.nT PlA/N 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. . 293 

modation offered. The majority of those that I have exam- 
ined have been so poorly built, or were in such a dilapidated 
condition, as to be almost untenantable in cold and stormy 
weather, even for the short time required for the calls of 
nature. These miserable shanties, devoid of the simplest 
comforts, besmeared with nastiness, adorned with obscene 
scrawls, cannot but be injurious to the morals of the children. 
No parents, could they see these places, would wish to have 
a carefully reared child frequent them, but there is no alter- 
native. No matter how repugnant to delicate sensibilities 
these teeming monuments of filth may be, children are forced 
to use them day after day, and it is no wonder that their finer 
instincts are blunted, their modesty corrupted, and the seeds 
of sensuality and vulgarity sown. 

In all seasons and in all weather a child leaves the school- 
room and crosses the playground to these privies. In winter, 
when the schoolroom is at a temperature of 70° or more, the 
sudden change from a warm room to a cold outbuilding is 
enough in itself to be dangerous to the strongest and most 
robust, and yet thousands upon thousands of children are 
every day during the winter subjected to this exposure. In 
warmer weather the conditions are not much better, for, while 
the frosts of winter are almost unbearable, they still have the 
power, by freezing, of reducing the stench so that it is not 
particularly objectionable; under the stimulating influence of 
heat these beds of pollution are worse in many cases than the 
foulest pigsties. 

Reader, do you think that this picture is overdrawn, or 
that the statements here made cannot be substantiated ? If 
you do, will you take the trouble to investigate for yourself ? 
Let no false modesty deter you, but go to these places. 



294 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

■examine them carefully, and, without prejudice, judge for 
yourself whether or no the evils which I have depicted exist. 

It will probably be said that many of these things are 
bound to occur where there is a promiscuous gathering of 
children. This I do not believe. I am convinced that under 
proper management carefully constructed, conveniently 
located, well heated and ventilated rooms, in which are 
placed the required number of water-closets and urinals, can 
be built, which will be in no way objectionable. 

The first step toward a radical reform must be to abolish 
the privy forever; nothing can be more dangerous to health. 
Apparently the only reason for its maintenance is the cheap- 
ness of its construction and its ability to take care of itself, 
little or no attention being given to a privy after it is once 
finished. A superintendent of schools in a flourishing city of 
about 40,000 inhabitants once told me of a case that came 
under his personal observation. In one of his outlying dis- 
tricts was a small schoolhouse to which belonged a privy. 
People occupying adjacent houses grumbled considerably 
about the outhouse, and finally wrote a letter to my friend 
calling attention to the nuisance, and requesting that it be 
remedied. A janitor had charge of the building, and had 
repeatedly assured the superintendent that the vault was 
attended to from time to time and put in proper condition. 
Upon the receipt of the letter, the superintendent, with cer- 
tain other school ofificials, went to the building and made a 
thorough examination; they found that the complaints were 
well founded ; that the vault was in a horrible condition, and 
had evidently not been cleaned for years. When the janitor 
was shown the letter and informed of the serious complaints, 
lie was much surprised, and protested that he did not see 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. - 295 

" why there should be a complaint just now, as the vault had 
not been touched and was in the same condition that it had 
been during the ten years he had had charge of the building." 
Is it a wonder, under such conditions as these, that the 
general health of modern school children is poor ? Can it be 
otherwise? Medical and sanitary experts are continually 
pointing out the evil effects that arise from just such instances 
as those I have mentioned; and yet we go on, year after 
year, not only tolerating what we have, but making little or 
no change for the better. I have said that the abolition of 
the privy was a necessity; I would that it should become a 
law that no school building should have a privy-vault con- 
nected with it. It will be asked, What can be done in small 
towns or villages where there is no water or sewerage system ? 
There are two ways open for overcoming this obstacle. 
The first, and probably the cheapest, is by the use of what 
are known as "earth-closets." The several ways in which 
these may be used have been so fully described by able 
writers that it is not necessary for me to do it here. The 
second method, and the one that I have usually employed, 
is the use of the water-closet. Any good closet or latrine 
may be used — the simpler the mechanism the better. Those 
known as tank closets are the best for the purpose. These 
ar.e fed from a tank placed over the closets to which are 
attached service-boxes, one for each closet. Water can be 
supplied to this tank from a larger tank, in the attic, which is 
in turn supplied with water pumped into it either from a 
cistern or a well. It is folly to say that this is impracticable 
or that sufificient water cannot be obtained to properly supply 
the closets; it has been repeatedly demonstrated that water 
enough can be obtained: the question is only one of storage 



296 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

capacity. Enough water can be collected from the roofs of 
any ordinary schoolhouse and stored in cisterns to supply the 
closets and urinals for from two to three weeks. At the time of 
year when droughts are likely to occur the schools are closed, 
but, should the cistern supply be exhausted, a two-way pump, 
pumping either from the well or the cistern, would insure 
a supply from the well. The pump may be successfully and 
cheaply operated by a windmill. So with a good force-pump 
placed in the basement, an ample storage cistern, proper 
gutters with suitable leaders, an abundant supply of water 
can be obtained. With this there can be no question that 
the properly constructed water-closet is the best-known 
method for the removal of excreta. 

In the smaller schoolhouses, situated in towns or villages 
that have no public system of sewerage, the best plan, 
probably, will be to use a tight cesspool. This should be 
situated as far away from the building as the extent of the 
lot will allow. It should be connected with the schoolhouse 
by carefully trapped and ventilated drains, and so built that 
it can easily be cleaned out twice a year. On no condition 
should a leaching cesspool be used, nor should the excrement 
be carried into some old ditch and there left to pursue its 
own course. The sewerage and pipe system should always 
be easy of access and under complete control. There are so 
many able sanitarians who have given to the public an abun- 
dance of useful data that it is not necessary for me to enlarge 
on the subject here. I will only say that, no matter how 
carefully planned or perfectly constructed a building may be, 
if the Sewerage system is defective the structure will be a 
failure from a sanitary and hygienic standpoint. 

There will probably be those who will not approve of 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. - 297 

placing the closets where I have indicated on the plans. 
Their proximity to the schoolrooms is likely to be severely 
citicised, and any attempt to make these rooms something 
more than uncomfortable necessities will be met with strong 
opposition. Squarely in the face of all such antagonistic 
sentiments, I do maintain that whether earth- or water-closets 
be used, they should be under the same roof as the school- 
rooms, or so connected with the building that a child will not 
have to leave cover in passing to and from them. If closets 
and urinals are properly constructed and carefully ventilated, 
I can see no reason why they should not be placed near the 
school building; they can be isolated enough so as not to be 
any more objectionable than they are in any large dwelling or 
ofifice building. No matter where they may be placed, they 
require constant care; they will not run themselves, as seems 
to be the popular idea. We do not expect this of any other 
piece of machinery, and a modern water-closet is a mechanical 
contrivance operated under the most unfavorable conditions. 
Such being the case, ought we to expect to obtain satisfactory 
results unless vigilance and care are used ? 

The rooms in which the water-closets are placed should 
be light, cheerful, and, if possible, sunny. Let the finish of 
the room be neat and appropriate, and everything about them 
tend to enlighten and elevate the morals rather than to 
degrade and pollute them. The feeling that the closets 
should be placed in some remote corner that is not good 
enough to be used for anything else, and that a child in going 
to and from them must skulk along as if he were doing some- 
thing to be ashamed of, is all a mistake and should not be 
countenanced. I believe in modesty and decorum as much 
as any one does, but I do not consider it necessary, in order 



298 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

to be truly modest, that one should cross the border and 
enter into the realm of prudishness. 

The water-closets are one of the important features of a 
school building. It may be possible to get along with badly 
planned, poorly lighted, and insufBciently heated rooms, but 
you cannot gather together a number of pupils without pro- 
viding conveniences for the calls of nature. Admitting this, 
we should not underrate the importance of the water-closets,, 
but allot to them the prominent place in the plans that they 
surely occupy in the school system. By bringing them to 
light, if I may so speak, and placing them in convenient 
locations we will obtain more thought and study in their con- 
struction, and more inspection and care after they are com- 
pleted, than if they occupied less conspicuous positions. 

I believe it should be not only the duty of the janitor, but 
of the teacher as well, to daily look after the closets and care- 
fully inspect them. This should also be part of the duty of 
the school visitors, committeemen, and superintendent when- 
ever they may have occasion to visit the school. The 
children themselves should be taught to be vigilant, to report 
at once anything that may be amiss, and be stimulated by 
rewards, if necessary, to practise neatness and cleanliness. 
There is no reason why these things cannot be accomplished 
in a legitimate and pleasant way, and who will say but that, 
if they are, one of the most objectionable features of public 
schools will have been removed ? 

As to the general construction of these rooms, let there 
be as little wood about them as is consistent with comfort,- 
and no plaster. The floors, even in a simple village school, 
can be so constructed as to be at once durable, non-absorbent, 
and cleanly. On each side of the wooden joists, if they are 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 299 




B / 

1/ 






MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



301 




MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



303 




PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. , 305 

used, let there be nailed strong cleats, and on these cleats lay 
a rough floor between the joists; upon this floor, which should 
be low enough to admit of it, lay common bricks on edge and 
grout them in cement. The top edge of the bricks should 
project about one quarter of an inch above the floor-joists, 
and the cement when floated up will not only cover them but 
will fill all crevices between the bricks, forming, when it has 
had time to harden, a perfectly solid floor. On top of this 
put down a heavy coat of asphaltum, and you will have, at a 
reasonable cost, a floor that will answer all purposes as well 
as one that would cost three times the amount. 

The side walls should be of brick; enamelled are the best, 
but common brick may be used, in which case they may be 
painted with several coats, as they are too porous for this 
purpose unless they are painted. As to the ceilings, they 
will be more fully described in other portions of this work. 

There are many good water-closets to be had; the author 
prefers those made entirely of porcelain, cast in one piece and 
fed from a service-box. They should be set directly down 
upon the asphaltum floor before described, and not cased up. 
The partitions between the several closets, in the smaller 
schools, may be of any close-grained hard wood — cherry or 
maple I think as good as any. The seats may be of the same 
material, supported on cleats screwed to the partitions. It 
is well to make the partitions themselves about 8 feet high 
and cap them with a neat rail, housed down over them. This 
rail should run across over the doors in front and will help to 
steady the partitions. A similar strip should be screwed to 
the floor for the lower edge of the partitions to rest in. The 
doors do not need to run to the floor; in fact, it is better to 
have from 6 to 8 inches of space beneath them ; they should 



306 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

be light, and so hung that they will not clash against each 
other when in operation. Let them be finished in the natural 
wood, that is to say, filled with some good filler and then 
varnished. This will give a harder and better surface than 
any other way, and is more cleanly and pleasing in appear- 
ance. 

As to the urinals, I have used slate backs in some cases, 
bolted to the walls with brass bolts; slate floors and troughs 
of the same material, supported at the required height on 
brass brackets. Water was supplied through a perforated 
galvanized-iron pipe, placed under a slate cap above the back. 
This pipe was so arranged that when the water was turned 
on, which should be during the time that the building was 
occupied, a constant flow of minute streams completely wetted 
the back. In this arrangement there were no partitions 
forming individual urinals, although they might have been 
made by using slate slabs bolted to the bricks and floor. 
After trying several methods, however, I am inclined to give 
the preference to individual, all-earthenware, Bedfordshire, 
lipped urinals. If these are used, it is better to bolt them 
against a slate or marble back, and to have a slate floor 
properly dished under them. It is also well to have some 
kind of a partition between them, as it prevents crowding. I 
have seen a light cast-iron screen of good pattern used, which 
seemed to answer the purpose. This was firmly screwed 
against the slate back and did not extend to within a foot 
of the floor. If these screens are kept properly painted, so 
as t© prevent rust, they would seem to be all that is necessary, 
and they have the advantage of being cheap. The only other 
materials fit to use are slate or marble ; of these marble is far 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. ^ 307 

the best — in fact, there is nothing so good, for use in and 
about water-closets and urinals, as polished white marble. 

Its expense, however, will prevent its general introduc- 
tion, which is to be regretted. Slate answers the purpose 
very well, and, considering all things, is the most available. 
When it is possible it is better to make the back, partitions, 
and floor immediately under the urinals entirely of slate. It 
is not necessary to have the entire partition run to the floor; 
indeed, I should prefer to have only the outer edges run 
down, for strength, and let the space between be cut out to 
the height of a foot or 18 inches, in a circular form, to admit 
of thorough washing and scouring of every part. 

Water-closets and urinals constructed as I have described 
will not be objectionable in any building, provided proper 
care is given to them. 

On Plates 59, 60, and 61 are shown a four- room building 
of brick. By referring to Plates 24, 25, and 26 a building 
of the same size of a different style will be found. 

PLAYROOMS. 

No matter how small or unpretentious a schoolhouse may 
be, it should never be constructed without a cellar. Build- 
ings set on piers, or built only with trench walls, are unsuit- 
able for school purposes; dampness cannot be avoided in 
structures of this kind, and a damp schoolroom is one of the 
worst places in which a child can be placed. A dry, well- 
lighted basement or cellar is as essential to a well-planned 
schoolhouse as are the heating, lighting, or sanitary arrange- 
ments. The cellar must extend under the whole of the build- 
ing, and not under a small portion only, as is frequently 
found. The extent of such a cellar will be sufificient to 



308 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS, 

provide a proper space for the heater and the necessary fuel 
cellars; the remaining space should be devoted to playrooms. 
Let these be as large as possible, and have ample stairways 
leading to the halls above and to the playgrounds. The floors 
should not be more than 4 feet below the level of the exterior 
grade, and the ceilings not less than 10 feet in the clear. 
With this arrangement windows 5 feet in height can be 
obtained, assuring abundance of light and air. These rooms 
should be well heated, carefully ventilated, and kept as neat 
and clean as any other part of the building. They are in- 
valuable in cold or stormy weather, as they enable the pupils 
to take the necessary exercise at recess without being exposed 
to the elements. Sometimes in pleasant weather the play- 
grounds are muddy, and the rooms can be used then to 
advantage. Their cost is a small item, when we take into 
consideration the vast amount of good that they do, and I 
hope to see the time when it will be compulsory to have these 
rooms in every school building. 

The importance of systematic bodily exercise cannot be 
overestimated, and it is well to note that there is an in- 
creased tendency in communities to recognize this factor in 
our educational system. That physical culture should be 
placed shoulder to shoulder with mental education is becom- 
ing more and more apparent. A playground of some sort is 
usually found connected with almost every public or private 
school, and pupils are expected to take a certain amount of 
exercise thereon every day that the weather will permit; but 
there are many times, especially in winter, when the open-air 
grounds are unfit for use, and how needful then is the indoor 
playgroom ! In fair weather children obtain more or less 
exercise before, between, and after the school session, of 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. 3O9 

■which they are deprived during prolonged storms; then it is 
that all the time possible and consistent with school duties 
should be passed in the playrooms. Boys will take more 
kindly to these minutes of recreation than girls, and there are 
usually much better provisions made for them. Take, for 
instance, our institutes, colleges, and universities devoted 
to the use of the sterner sex. Connected with them will 
always be found grounds devoted to the use of all kinds of 
outdoor pastimes, fully equipped gymnasiums, facilities for 
boating and many other healthful exercises. On the other 
hand, the same class of institutions, with one or two notable 
exceptions, that are devoted to the use of the gentler sex are 
entirely devoid of any such facilities; even if they were pro- 
vided, I am not sure that the rules and regulations of our 
"finishing" seminaries would allow a young lady to make 
free use of them. In the first case, a certain amount of 
physical exercise is considered necessary and is encouraged by 
the faculty; in the second, the necessity is not admitted, or, 
if so, is ignored. Can it be that our girls are stronger and 
better able to withstand the mental strain of studentship than 
our boys ? Are they so constituted that they require no 
physical exercise ? I think not, nor will any physiologist 
assert that such is the case. What is true of the young ladies 
of the seminaries is equally so of the girls of the high and 
grammar schools. They are usually so impressed, just at this 
age, with their own importance, and are so afraid that if they 
indulge in a little healthful play they will be lowering their 
dignity, that they completely ignore that which is so vitally 
important to their physical well-being. The fault lies not 
wholly with the child in this matter; teachers and parents are 
alike inclined to repress an exuberant spirit, being fearful that 



3IO MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

the girl will develop into a boisterous hoyden if allowed to 
give full vent to her feelings. Better far that she should than 
into a sickly young womanhood, as she will find a healthy 
body of much more use to her in after-life than the ability 
to demonstrate a problem in geometry or translate a book of 
Virgil. Have no fear of the hoyden. When the time comes, 
the natural good sense of the girl, combined with her educa- 
tion, will prevent her from being anything but what we all 
admire — a lady. Is this not true of boys ? Think of the 
rough boisterous fellows of our school days — hard players and 
hard students as well; boys who did everything as well as 
they could, working always with might and main. Watch 
them in after-life, and, while you find them toned down and 
gentlemen in every sense of the word, they still possess the push 
and vim that to-day are the bone and sinew of this great nation. 
If, on arriving at manhood, a boy can put sufificient restraint 
upon himself, will this not be equally true of a girl ? En- 
courage, then, I say, all healthful sports and pastimes of our 
school children, and let every educational building be provided 
"with ample playgrounds and suitable rooms in which exercise 
anay be taken. 

It is best to construct the side walls of such rooms of 
brick; these can be painted two or three coats of white lead 
and oil, and a very satisfactory and pleasing surface thus 
obtained, which can be renewed at any time. There are 
several methods of treating the floors. I have used asphaltum 
with excellent results, and I think it is about the best thing 
that can be had. When it is properly put down it is hard, 
■durable, rough enough to prevent slipping, easily kept in 
order, and of a pleasing color. Floors of good, hard-burned 
brick, laid on edge and grouted in cement, when well laid, are 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 3" 







MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



313 




\ 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. S^S 




PlBST OToaV flAti. 



Eli&HT Room Building. 

— IM BRICK-— 




SKO^P" ^TOKY PLVI 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. . 31/ 

durable, and, while not so smooth as asphaltum, are not too 
rough for use; their only serious drawback is a fine dust that 
arises from them, caused by the disintegration of the cement 
under constant use. This dust gets into the eyes and lungs 
and is disagreeable, if not unhealthy. This objection can be 
more forcibly urged against pure cement floors, and I think is 
the only good reason why they cannot be used. It might be 
possible, under certain conditions and by the admixture of 
some other material, to produce a cement floor that would 
not disintegrate. I understand that there are several patents 
of this kind, but I know nothing practically of their worth. 
Whatever material may be used, the floors should be slightly 
dished or slanted toward a common centre, where a heavy 
bell-trap can be placed, connected with a drain. This drain 
must be carried into a blind drain somewhere away from the 
building. On no condition is it to be in any way connected 
with the sewerage system of the building. By arranging the 
floor in this way it can be thoroughly washed down with a 
hose once or twice a week, which will be of great benefit from 
a sanitary point of view. Wood I do not consider suitable 
for a playroom floor, for it necessitates a heavy cement under- 
floor on which are placed sleepers to carry the wood floor. 
This leaves a continuous row of spaces under the top floor, 
which are sure to become highways for all kinds of vermin, 
and there can be no such washing out of this room as in the 
former cases. 

Let there be as many windows in the playroom as the 
proper construction of the building will allow. It is well to 
have them so arranged that they can be easily opened or 
closed, as these rooms must be thoroughly aired both before 
and after occupancy. When it is possible, even in stormy 



3l8 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

weather the windows on the "lee" side of the building 
should be left open, the object being to have the children 
take their exercise as much as possible in the outside air with- 
out being exposed. It is worse than useless to send pupils 
out of a schoolroom into a musty, unwholesome basement. 
What they want is pure air and plenty of it, and a complete 
change of air and temperature is essential to secure good 
results. The playrooms need not be heated to the degree 
that we find necessary in the schoolrooms; a temperature of 
from 50° to 60° is all that is required, and the pupil should 
understand that during the few minutes allowed for recess he 
is expected to take as much exercise as possible. No seats 
are needed in the playroom — in fact, it is better not to have 
them, as the scholars sit and lean over desks enough in the 
schoolrooms. During recess let them strive in every way to 
relax and invigorate the brain and muscles, which have 
become wearied by study and confinement. This is what 
recess is for, and why I advocate a playroom in every school 
building, so that, no matter what the weather may be, bene- 
ficial exercise may be had at stated times during every day of 
school life. 

Plates 62, 63, and 64 show an eight-roomed building with 
the toilet-rooms in the basement; by referring to Plates 20, 
21, and 22 an eight-roomed building will be found with toilet- 
rooms on each floor. 

STAIRCASES. 

It is a general custom among architects to make a special 
feature of the staircases, particularly in the larger buildings; 
and many beautiful examples of their skill in designing can 
be found in some of the recent large school buildings. There 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. 319 

is always a strong temptation for an architect to do this, for 
in no department of interior work can more taste and skill be 
shown. There is nothing that I admire more than a noble, 
well-lighted staircase, leading up through a building, and I 
am loath to deprive myself of this chance to beautify a school 
building with handsome, well-studied newels, rails, and 
balusters, and yet I believe they should all be abolished. I 
have said in a previous chapter that the majority of staircases 
were dangerous, and I reiterate it here. To better illustrate 
my meaning, let me call your attention to the terrible calamity 
that occurred on February 20, 1883, in the Roman Catholic 
school of the Most Holy Redeemer, situated on East Fourth 
Street, in the city of New York. The registered attendance 
at the school at this time was 900, the pupils ranging from 
four to fifteen years of age. The Sisters of Notre Dame had 
charge of the school, and are said to have been very careful 
■with the children, having taken great pains to instruct them 
in a" fire-drill." In spite of this, in the middle of a winter's 
afternoon, in the most populous city of the Western Hemi- 
sphere, in a city that boasts of the finest and best-equipped 
fire department of the world, in a building which hundreds 
of people were passing every hour, there occurred a slight 
fire — so slight that the firemen had no trouble in mastering it 
in a few minutes with the use of but little water — and yet 
within an incredibly short time after the alarm was given 
fifteen children lost their lives. Not one of these lives need 
to have been sacrificed had the staircases been properly con- 
structed. Should not such a terrible disaster as this teach us 
that something was radically wrong in their construction ? 
Do you wonder that I claim that the staircases are many 
times " dangerous," when I tell you that there are hundreds 



320 MODERN' AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

of school buildings that are just as faulty in this respect as 
the one in which this disaster occurred ? All published 
accounts of the disaster agree that the halls were 6 feet 6 
inches wide, and the staircases 3 feet wide. Down one of 
these narrow staircases, containing twenty steps, an attempt 
was made to march the children by twos, but in their eager- 
ness to get out they could not be controlled, and there occurred 
a jam upon the staircase; the children above, alarmed at the 
delay, pushed forward and caused the rail and balusters at the 
side to give way, hurling head-foremost to the floor below 
a struggling mass of children that completely blocked the 
passage. This pile of frenzied humanity was constantly 
augmented from above, and, in spite of all efforts of willing 
hands and brave hearts, fifteen little lives were sacrificed by 
that fatal stair-railing. I do not pretend to say that if the 
railing had not given way all would have been saved, because 
the stairs themselves were about as bad as they could be, but 
I do believe that many more would have gotten out safely, 
even with the narrow stairs, had they been walled in on both 
sides. Even if the railings are strong enough to withstand 
a pressure, there is still danger of pupils either jumping or 
being pushed over in case of a panic. I am well aware that 
the architectural effect of the structure is not as good where 
boxed or wall stairs are used, but it cannot be disputed that 
they are safer and better adapted to the requirements of a 
schoolhouse. 

Stairs should not have over 7^ inches rise, and should be 
built with at least two separate runs to each flight. They 
should be from 5 to 6 feet in width, with square landings; 
treads should be fully 12 inches, and the landings as wide as 
it is possible to have them. Winding or curved stairs should 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



321 




MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. Z^Z 



Plate 66. 




6ase;m£nt Plam 




MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 325 




FlKiiT'STORV PlAM 



'Twelve Room. BvilDimg 



J 



.ttttWJ" 

■"W^ 



■ 



: 



v^ 



fffll 



fei 





-T-ih- -T 



ri 



c=>^ 







J 



vSecoHd -Stodv PlaH. 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. "32/ 

never be used. A strong partition-wall should extend from 
story to story between the separate runs of stairs, and there 
should be a strong rail bolted to the wall on both sides at a. 
suitable height. An abundance of light must be obtained, 
and it is well to keep the windows at a considerable height 
from the floor; by so doing there is no inducement for a pupil 
to loiter on the stairs. Stairs of this description are shown in 
all the designs in this book. 

Where stairs are constructed as here shown it is almost 
impossible for a jam to occur; there is no chance for anything 
to give way, or of the children falling or being pushed over 
the railings. When they are placed as shown in the majority 
of the designs they have the further advantage of being com- 
paratively noiseless to the occupants of the lower rooms. 
Stairs are a necessity in all buildings, although I think far too 
many are used; in other words, I do not believe in piling 
story upon story in school buildings, preferring breadth to 
height in all places where it can be obtained. In large cities 
these high buildings cannot be avoided, but in the smaller 
towns and in the country, where land can be had, no building 
should be erected for school purposes that has more than two 
floors to be occupied above the basement. 

Eminent physicians have repeatedly pointed out the evils 
that come to children, especiall}-- girls, from constantly ascend- 
ing long flights of stairs. This, with the constantly increas- 
ing danger as we ascend, is a strong argument in favor of 
breadth instead of height. It is too much, however, to 
expect that a radical change will be brought about in this 
respect, although it is a pleasure to be able to say that during 
the years 1884 and 1885 I built for the city of Taunton, 
Mass., a high-school building in which the entire space 



328 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

devoted to school use was situated on the first floor; the 
second floor contained only an exhibition-hall, anterooms^ 
and rooms that could be used for evening drawing-classes. 
In the basement were placed the chemical laboratory and 
playrooms. 

The illustrations on Plates 35, 36, and 37 show a building 
very similar. I think it was a pioneer of its kind, and, while 
by no means perfect, I consider the general arrangement a 
decided improvement upon the average buildings of this class. 
It is much easier for the teacher to handle the classes, and 
the scholars have no stairs to climb in passing to and from 
recitations. The schoolhouse, upon occupation, fully meets 
the expectations of those who were interested in it, and I 
hope it will continue to prove so satisfactory that buildings 
hke it may be multiplied. 

Wherever stairs may be used in schools or any other 
public building, they should be built as strong and substan- 
tial as possible, and practically fire-proof. They should be 
the last thing to burn or fall in the structure. In ordinary 
construction they are among the first places to catch fire and 
the most efficient means of rapidly conveying it from floor to 
floor. That there is no need of this has been repeatedly 
demonstrated. Staircases can be built at a reasonable outlay 
that are convenient, easy of ascent, well lighted, and abso- 
lutely fire-proof — staircases that, in case of an alarm of fire or 
sudden panic from any cause, would enable the inmates of 
the building to get out safely, or at least without finding the 
staircase already in flames and using its best endeavors to 
destroy the rest of the building in the shortest time possible. 
Architects and all others interested in school buildings should 
encourage the construction of fire-proof staircases. Innu- 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS 



529 




=^5 

< 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 331 




First Stoiiv Pla 



Twelve Roo/^ Bvilding 




Stco/^o 5TOf?x Plati 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. . 333 

merable calamities in crowded public buildings, churches, 
theatres, and schools should have taught the public the con- 
ditions that make a panic-stricken multitude of human beings 
so dangerous to itself. It should be a lazv that ample means 
of exit should be provided for just such emergencies. 

Of what use was the careful training in a nre-drill by the 
Sisters of Notre Dame of the 900 children entrusted to their 
care, when these same children were confined in a death-trap, 
out of which they could not have escaped under the most 
favorable circumstances, in regular marching order, in less 
than ten or fifteen minutes ? Of what use, I say, is a fire- 
drill under such circumstances, and what is the use of saying 
that children or any one else can be controlled when we know 
that self-preservation is the first law of nature ? Under the 
excitement and fear that such a scene brings on, the majority 
of people become so frenzied that, for the time being, they 
are transformed into mere brutes. Better far than all fire- 
drills is a broad hall and a wide staircase. Better far than 
money spent in exterior show is a plain building with fire- 
proof floors and staircases. No one can dispute the sound- 
ness of this reasoning; and yet an elaborate and showy 
exterior will often be selected by a building committee, when 
real worth and intrinsic merit are concealed under a humble 
garb. 

Let the side walls of school staircases be of enamelled 
brick (either the imported ones or those made in Philadelphia 
are the best) and you will have a surface as smooth and hard 
as glass. These brick can be obtained in a variety of tints, 
and when properly laid in Portland cement they make the 
most satisfactory and durable wall that I know of. No 
wainscot is required, although one can be laid of chocolate- 



334 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

colored bricks; this, with a field of light buff and a frieze of 
delicate blue, makes a very pleasing combination. Many- 
other tints can be had, and the only thing that prevents their 
more general introduction is the expense: the enamelling is 
laid on a first-quality pressed brick, and the labor and material 
added to this brings the cost of the completed enamelled brick 
up to $80 or $90 per thousand, without laying. While this 
price may seem high, I believe it is economy in the long-run 
to use these bricks in school construction, and I strongly 
recommend them to all who are about to build. 

Should the purse not be long enough to bear the expense 
of enamelled brick, let the ordinary pressed bricks be used; 
should these be too costly, use the Croton or even the 
common bricks, carefully selected. The latter can be painted- 
two or three coats of some light neutral tint, and will be at 
once durable, fire-proof, and pleasing to look at. By all 
means do away with plaster; it is easily soiled, an absorbent, 
and far too perishable for the wear and tear of school life. 

My favorite material for treads and risers is rubbed slate 
of a dark-blue or purple color. In case this is used for the 
treads only, the risers should be of brick, by which a very 
pleasing contrast is obtained. These slate treads and risers 
can be built into the brick walls at both ends and supported 
in the centre by light iron beams and stringers; the underside 
should not be closed up in the least, but left open, and the 
iron painted some light neutral tint. 

Where slate cannot be had, bluestone may be used in its 
place, although, unless it be sawed, it is rather rough. Solid 
granite or other stone steps are very good, but more expen- 
sive than those mentioned. Iron is, of course, at all times 
available and useful; if it be used, the top surface of all plat- 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. ^ 335 

forms and treads should be finished with a checkered pattern 
to prevent slipping, although even with this precaution it 
will wear smooth under use and become slippery and danger- 
ous, which is not the case with stone steps. Wood can be 
used for treads where there are brick walls, although I much 
prefer any of the first-mentioned materials. It is much 
cheaper, but cannot be made fire-proof; but, with the walls as 
described, wood stairways can be so constructed as to be very 
slow of combustion, and when all the heating apparatus is 
placed in the centre of the building and the stairways at the 
extreme ends, as I have shown on the plans of the larger 
buildings, there can be little danger of the fire getting so far 
along as to block both staircases at opposite ends of the build- 
ing at the same time. 

It is better, however, not to take even this risk if it can 
be avoided, but adopt at the outset imperishable materials. 
It must be remembered, in this connection, that while stairs 
built as I have described cost more in the first place than 
v.'hen built in the ordinary way, there will be no expenditure 
for newels, well-posts, or balusters, or for lath and plaster. 
A hand-rail of brass or iron bolted to each of the side walls 
with suitable metal brackets is all that is required. Brass is 
the most pleasing metal and can easily be kept bright. I 
have also had good success in making these rails of 2-inch 
wrought-iron pipe, on each end of which are screwed neat 
cast-iron caps. These rails need not run around the platform, 
but be simply straight pieces of pipe following the run of the 
stairs at a suitable height. Rails of this kind are far prefer- 
able to wood, as they cannot be marred or easily damaged; 
they are a vast improvement upon the ordinary rails, sup- 
ported by balusters and newels, on which it is the delight of 



33^ I^JODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

the small boy to perform startling gymnastic feats. I can 
remember when it was the pride of my life to be able to say 
that I had slid head-foremost from the third to the ground 
floor of the schoolhouse on a well-remembered stair-rail that 
curved up through the building. I often wonder, as I look 
back, why my neck was not broken; but I presume the 
urchin of to-day can perform just such "stunts" and 
escape unharmed. Undoubtedly he would be very indig- 
nant did he know that I wished to take away from him just 
such rapid-transit descents. 

In spite, however, of running the risk of incurring the dis- 
pleasure of my young friends, I must urge, as forcibly as I 
can, the wisdom and necessity of abolishing all except box- 
stairs in buildings where there are large numbers of pupils 
gathered together. This is a reform that can be easily 
effected in almost any school building, and I hope that the 
custodians of our public schools, when their attention is called 
to this matter, will see that in all new buildings such an 
arrangement is adopted, and, where it is possible, have the 
proper alterations made in existing structures. 

Isolation is also of importance in the construction of stair- 
cases for school purposes; by this I mean that they should be 
placed outside of the building proper, if possible. If this 
cannot be done, let them be kept on the outer walls and so 
arranged that the passing up and down may be heard as little 
as possible by the occupants of the rooms. Stairs placed as 
shown in the various buildings illustrated in these pages are 
arranged as I like to see them. They are easy of access, well 
lighted, and allow the occupants of the upper floors to enter 
or leave the building and to pass to and from the playrooms 
or water-closets without even entering the hall into which the 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. . 337 

lower rooms open. If five minutes' difference of time is 
allowed in the dismission of the pupils of the two floors, 
there need be no confusion between them. By placing the 
stairways at either end of the halls as shown, the sexes may 
be also completely separated. 

I decidedly object to placing stairways in the centre of a 
building, or to having them so placed that the pupils will have 
to pass the door of any other schoolroom in passing to and 
from their own room. When stairs are placed in the centre 
of a building this cannot be avoided; they are invariably 
noisy, and it is very difificult to light them unless wells, rails, 
and balusters are used. I have already given my reasons for 
believing these unsuitable, so that it would seem that the only 
proper place for the location of staircases is on the exterior 
walls or in wings devoted exclusively to their use. 

The arrangement of the stairways in such a manner that 
all the pupils must enter one hall, common to all floors, 
is open to some of the objections cited above, and leads 
me to believe that the following simple rules can with pro- 
priety be adopted in the construction of staircases for school 
buildings: 

1st. All staircases should be constructed with two or more 
runs with square landings. 

2d. No staircase should be less than 4 feet 6 inches wide 
in the clear, and no winders or circular stairs should be used. 

3d. No riser should be over 7^ inches, and all treads 
should be at least 12 inches. 

4th. No wells, rails, newels, or balusters should be used; 
stairs in all cases to be walled or boxed up. 

5th. All stairs should be built on the outside walls of the 
building or in special wings prepared for them, and so placed 



338 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

that pupils occupying the upper floors of the building may 
enter and leave the structure without disturbing or interfering 
with the pupils of the lower floors. 

There can be no difficulty in meeting all of these require- 
ments in school buildings situated in the country or in the 
smaller cities. In large cities, where the space is limited, it 
is not so easy, although I think the problem was successfully 
solved some years ago in the Sanitary Bnginee?-' s model 
schoolhouse competition, and is fully illustrated on Plates 85, 
Z6, 88, and 89. 

The illustrations on Plates 65, 66, 67, 68, and 69 show 
twelve-room buildings with and without an assembly-hall. 

FLOORS. 

It is hardly probable that enough money can be obtained, 
unless under some specially favorable circumstances, to con- 
struct the main floors of ordinary schoolhouses in a fire-proof 
manner. I do not know of a building of this class so con- 
structed. While it may not be of the same importance to 
have the entire building fire-proof as it is to have the stairs, it 
is still enough so to enlist our attention, especially where the 
ordinary methods of stair-construction and heating are used. 
The increased cost is the only argument that can be used 
against fire-proof construction, and I am bound to admit that 
this is a serious obstacle against its general introduction. My 
own preference would be to reduce the exterior effect of the 
building to the verge of barrenness, in order to obtain funds 
enough to render the structure fire-proof — not only in the 
floor, but in all other portions as well. 

I should prefer, of all others, a floor constructed with iron 
beams and the ordinary hollow, fire-proof brick arch turned 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. 339 

between them; upon the top of the beams there can be 
screwed down strips of wood to which the floor may be nailed, 
the space between being filled flush with the top of the strips 
with cement. 

The floor itself should be of maple, oak, or yellow pine 
in narrow widths, i-J inches thick, matched and blind-nailed 
to the strips before mentioned. Maple is probably the best 
wood for the purpose, oak coming next, and yellow pine 
being the poorest and cheapest of the three. 

Where iron beams cannot be used the wooden joists may 
be made comparatively fire-proof by encasing them with hol- 
low, fire-proof tile; if this is done, the size of the beams will 
have to be increased, as the additional weight of these tiles 
must be provided for. In this method of construction a 
double floor should be used; the rough under floor being laid 
diagonally and nailed directly to the joists, and the upper floor 
laid " straight " on top of this with a heavy thickness of 
deadening-felt between. Asbestos felt is the best for this, on 
account of its fire-proof qualities. 

Plaster is commonly used for the ceiling, but I should 
recommend in place of this perishable material either a wood 
ceiling of some light-colored hard wood, screwed directly to 
the iron beams, or a ceiling composed of pure Portland 
cement applied to the fire-proof flooring-tiles; this makes a 
most excellent ceiling — hard, non-absorbent, and durable; if 
the color is found objectionable, it can be painted any light 
neutral tint. Where wooden joists are used, instead of using 
wood lath for the ceiling let wire netting or iron lath be 
employed, and apply the Portland cement directly to this. 
The open timbered system of the slow-burning construction 
of floors, used in mills and factories, I am not inclined 



340 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

to favor for schoolrooms; it is most excellent for the pur- 
poses mentioned, but hardly suitable for the finished work 
of a room. 

INSIDE WALLS. 

In speaking of this subject elsewhere I have urged the use 
of enamelled bricks for the side walls of schoolrooms, abolish- 
ing by this means the use of furring, lath, or plaster. The 
exterior walls should be built hollow for warmth and dryness. 
In one or two instances objections have been made to the use 
of this material on the ground that the rooms would be cold, 
or that a feeling of chilliness would be produced. Nothing 
causes me to have the latter sensation more quickly than an 
unbroken expanse of white, plastered wall, and it seems to 
me that a pleasing, warm, neutral tint in brick would have 
the very opposite effect. As to the actual chill produced by 
the use of this material, it is a well-known fact that whatever 
the substance contained in a room may be, it takes up the 
temperature of the room after a certain length of time, so 
that, in reality, enamelled brick would not make the slightest 
difference in the temperature of the room when ready for 
occupancy. 

Of course side walls built of these bricks are more expen- 
sive, to start with, than those constructed in the ordinary 
manner; but where their durability is taken into account, and 
the benefits derived from a sanitary point of view are consid- 
ered, I believe it safe to say that, in the long-run, it would 
be economy to introduce them into all our public school- 
houses. 

A compromise might be made by introducing these bricks 
for a dado or wainscot running up under the blackboards and 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



341 



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MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. ' 343 




PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. 345 

windows only, above the blackboards using Portland cement 
applied directly to the brick walls as described for ceilings. 
This would make a durable and pleasing wall without much, 
if any, additional expense. 

The best blackboards are of slate set in cement directly 
onto the brick walls. Let them be kept near the floor in the 
lower rooms, which are usually occupied by the smaller 
pupils; from 20 to 24 inches from the floor to the top of the 
chalk-rack is about the right height for these rooms, and from 
24 to 30 inches for other rooms. There are numerous com- 
positions in the market for blackboards, but I have never seen 
one that is perfectly satisfactory ; their first cost, combined 
with the expenditure necessary to keep them in order, renders 
them, in a very short time, more expensive than those of 
slate. 

As to the general inside finish of schoolhouses, almost any 
hard wood may be used. Oak, ash, maple, cherry, black 
birch, and even yellow pine, are all available and pleasing in 
effect. White pine and whitewood are too soft and easily 
m.arred for the rough usage of school life. Whatever wood 
is used, it should be finished in what is known as the 
"natural wood" — that is, it is first treated with' a heavy coat 
of some good filler, then varnished with two coats, each coat 
well rubbed down. This makes a finish not easily defaced, 
pleasing to the eye, and non-absorbent. Let the details of 
the woodwork be simple; the fewer quirks and mouldings to 
catch dust and dirt the better. 

If a brick wainscot is not used, vertical matched and 
beaded sheathing of the same wood as the casings and doors 
will be found the best. This need not be more than half an 
inch thick, as it is placed directly on the walls. 



346 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

By all means arrange transoms over the doors; and where 
possible let there be inside sash in the walls, between halls 
and rooms, as shown on the majority of the plans presented 
with this book. This will insure, by opening the out- 
side windows, a free circulation of air through the rooms and 
halls in warm weather, and a complete flushing of the rooms 
at any time it may be required. These windows also give 
plenty of light in the long halls and hat-and-cloak-rooms; 
being placed above the blackboards in the schoolrooms, they 
are above the hooks in the halls and so do not interfere with 
anything. It is well to have them swing, operating them 
from the floor, and by the use of some patent transom-fixture 
they can be opened to any desired point and there locked. 

The outer windows of schoolrooms must be screened in 
some way, especially if we obtain the requisite amount of 
sunlight. Exterior blinds are unsuitable, and the ordinary 
inside blinds or the shades in common use are open to many 
objections; the blinds are noisy and in the way unless they 
are arranged to shut into pockets, which materially increases 
the cost of construction. The ordinary shade is eternally out 
of order and cannot be used with comfort on open windows 
where there is any circulation of air. 

All things considered, the best device known to me at the 
present time is the " Wilson Rolling Blind "; this is noise- 
less in operation, cannot blow or flap, and rolls up out of the 
way when not in use. While thoroughly screening the 
occupants of the room from the rays of the sun, it still per- 
mits of a free circulation of air. If these blinds are to be 
used, it is better to make special provision for their reception 
in the early stages of construction, although they can be 
applied to almost any window by the introduction of a small 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. 347 

box cornice over each window into which the blinds will roll 
or coil up. 

One other thing I would recommend for all schoolrooms, 
and that is a neat picture-moulding placed at a suitable 
height. This will save the walls from being marred by driv- 
ing nails or hooks for hanging maps or charts. In case the 
walls are painted, the space above the picture-moulding may- 
be of a different hue, which will give a good frieze effect 
without additional expense. 

As to the exterior, it seems to me that a school building 
should show some idea of architectural proportion and sym- 
metry; because a structure is designed for simple and homely 
purposes it does not follow that it must be surpassingly ugly; 
yet how few of the village schools that dot the pleasant land- 
scape of our country are pleasing to look upon ? It is true 
that they have the simplest of lines and are usually built of 
the homeliest materials; but even with these drawbacks, 
well-studied lines and carefully proportioned masses combined 
with the plainest materials may in skilful hands make a village 
school building a thing of beauty. It is not necessarj^ in 
New England and many other sections of the country to go 
further than the village field to find, in abundance, excellent 
material for building; for can anything be more beautiful to 
the eye, or more durable for the walls of a schoolhouse, than 
the soft, warm gray of our field and ledge stone ? Let this 
be skilfully laid, and what can be more pleasing and lasting ? 
It is a constant source of wonderment to me that, with such 
a bountiful supply of material at our very doors, so little use 
has been made of it. An improvement has been made in this 
direction within a few years; wood is gradually being sup- 
planted by stone and brick for exterior suburban architecture; 



348 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

the quicker wood can be entirely banished and it is under- 
stood how beautiful artistic combinations of stone and brick 
can be made, the sooner the most potent charm of the 
English landscape will be ours. 

On Plates 70, 71, 72, 73, and 74 are shown sixteen- and 
seventeen-room buildings. 

HEATING AND VENTILATION. 

The real utility and success of a school building for prac- 
tical every-day use may be summarized under this heading. 
A building may have a beautiful exterior, the plan may be 
above criticism, the material of the best, and the workman- 
ship unexceptional, but from a hygienic point of view it will 
be a complete failure if the system of heating and ventilat- 
ing is faulty. 

When I speak of properly heating a building I do not 
for a moment mean merely the ability to maintain a given 
temperature, say of 70°, even in the coldest weather; nor 
when " ventilation " is mentioned is it only with the idea of 
introducing three or four 8X12 outlet-flues in each room, 
through which the foul air is supposed to be obliging enough 
to flow. 

Any firm that makes a business of putting in either steam 
or hot-air apparatus will present with their bid for the work 
a written guarantee that their apparatus will heat the building 
in every part to 70° in the coldest weather, and they will 
assert, furthermore, that their boiler or furnace is the only 
one that will do the work in a satisfactory manner without an 
enormous consumption of coal. It is the same way with 
radiators. Each manufacturer will claim that his will gen- 
crate more heat for the amount of surface used than any 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



349 






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MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



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MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



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PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. 355 

other, on account of some peculiar shape or internal arrange- 
ment. He will show you elaborately compiled tables depict- 
ing the results of exhaustive tests, in which it is always Jiis 
radiator that heads the list. These tables are all so nearly 
alike, although presented by parties between whom I know 
there could be no possible collusion, that I sometimes wonder 
if some enterprising printer has not set up the results of tests 
made at some time, and, as occasion demands, obligingly 
prints the headings required at the top of each column for his 
customers. 

BOILERS. 

In point of fact, the market is overstocked with boilers. 
They are of all patterns, shapes, and sizes, and ingenious in- 
ventors are constantly devising new forms which they fondly 
hope will drive out all competitors. There may be merit in 
these patent boilers, more, perhaps, than I have ever been 
able to discover, but my own experience with them teaches 
me that the plain horizontal tubular boiler is far preferable 
to any other. I advocate no special make of these boilers, 
as there are a score of good firms in the country who make 
first-class boilers of this kind. I believe that these horizon- 
tal tubular boilers are better than any patent boilers, that 
they are more reliable, will do their work better, are less liable 
to get out of order, will last longer, and will burn no more 
coal for the amount of steam generated than any other. I 
have never yet found an engineer who would say that there 
was any better boiler for the generation of steam, and steam 
is what we want and must have if we jvould properly heat a 
building. The patent-boiler man will tell you that he can 
get up steam quicker with his boiler. This is doubtless true, 



356 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

but he will lose it quicker also. If his boiler is sensitive, it 
is as susceptible to cold as to heat, and I know of no special 
advantage in the ability of a boiler to get up steam in a very- 
short time, unless it be in the case of a fire-engine. If a 
manufacturer desires to run a factory full of machinery, he 
will use the boiler out of which he can get the most work; in 
ninety cases out of every hundred you will find it to be the 
horizontal tubular, and this is why I advocate so strongly its 
use. 

It is well to put in a larger boiler than is actually required. 
In other words, it is cheaper to use a boiler at two thirds of 
its capacity than to force it continually to its utmost limit. 
The wear and tear of the boiler will be reduced and better 
general results obtained. I should recommend the boiler to 
be at least one third larger than the actual requirements. In 
setting the boiler great care should be used to get it low 
enough to allow of a rapid return or drip from all coils or 
radiators. If the cellar is not deep enough to do this 
properly, set the boiler in a pit two or more steps below the 
level of the cellar-bottom. A boiler should be so set that 
there will be plenty of room to fire it in front and a chance to 
get at it on all sides for cleaning and repairs. Where two 
boilers are used, they should be so connected that either or 
both may be used at pleasure. 

RADIATORS. 

It is with radiators as with boilers; there are so many 
patterns and styles, each claiming to be better than the other, 
that one is bewildered. In direct heating, by which I mean 
the placing of the radiators in the rooms to be heated, any 
first-class cast-iron radiator will do the work satisfactorily. 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. . 357 

provided it is supplied with plenty of steam. There is little 
or no difference in the amount of heat that radiators of the 
same size, fed by the same size pipes, will throw off. Take, 
for instance, the Bundy, Nason, Gold, or Reedy patents, and 
I have no choice between them; all are good, and there are 
many others equally so. In indirect heating, which is the 
placing of all the heating-surface in stacks in the cellar, the 
case is different ; although all the firms mentioned above 
make what is known as an indirect radiator. I believe that 
the best thing to use for this system is the ordinary box-coil, 
consisting simply of stacks of one-, two-, or three-inch pipes 
provided with suitable return-headers, and, where more than 
one tier is used, have them set "staggering." My reason for 
preferring the box-coils to all others is not their ability to 
obtain any more heat for the amount of surface used, nor will 
they heat any better or any quicker. Their superiority con- 
sists merely in the fact that \.\i& pipes are further apart and 
more air can be brought through them. This is of vital impor- 
tance in the indirect system of heating. All indirect radia- 
tors that I have used or seen, with the exception of the box- 
coils, are built too closely, and repeated tests have proved 
that, while the air brought through them is abundantly 
heated, it cannot be had in sufficient quantities. If the 
manufacturers would spread the pipes more, so as not to 
retard the flow of air, I know of no superiority that the box-; 
coils would possess. 

HOT-AIR FURNACES. 

With one exception I have never seen a hot-air furnace 
of any description that I considered suitable for school pur- 
poses. There are many of them, in fact those of any first-class, 



358 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

make, are abundantly able to heat a school building, but 
when you come to the problem of bringing into a room a 
large amount of fresh, pure, warmed air — say from 20 to 30 
cubic feet of air per pupil each minute — they will not do it. 
Yet this is what the highest authorities tell us should be 
provided. As I said in the beginning of this article, almost 
any firm will guarantee to heat a building to 70° in zero 
weather, but where will you find one that will pledge 
itself to maintain a steady flow into the room of pure, 
warmed air in sufificient quantities to give each pupil 20 cubic 
feet per minute ? The trouble with these furnaces is that the 
cold-air feed is not sufficient; and even if it were, their con- 
struction is such that the amount required could not be 
properly heated, and then, too, a flow to any one room can- 
not be assured on account of the tendency of one room to 
rob another under certain conditions. 

What is needed is a hot-air furnace of large capacity, so 
constructed that an abundant supply of cold air can be 
brought into it and properly warmed. The inside of the 
furnace should be so constructed that the heat generated for 
any one room should be ample for that room and be com- 
pletely isolated or cut off from all others; in other words, the 
cold air should be brought into the furnace, properly heated, 
and then carried to the room as independently as if only one 
room were to be heated. I know of such a furnace, a few of 
which have been made and are now in successful operation. 
I had hoped to be able to fully describe and illustrate it in 
this series of articles, but, unfortunately, I have been unable 
to procure from the patentee suitable drawings or models 
from which to prepare my cuts. 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDIALrS 



359 







MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUrLDINGS. . 



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MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



363 




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PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. . 365 

The illustrations on Plates 75, 'j6, and yj show a twenty- 
four-room building with assembly-hall, 

STOVES. 

Except in the smaller one-room buildings, situated in 
outlying districts, the use of stoves will hardly be required. 
In case they should be used, the best way to insure a good 
supply of fresh, pure air, properly heated, will be to build a 
cold-air box extending from the outside of the building to 
beneath where the stove will stand and there cut a hole through 

o 

the floor. In this cold-air box a suitable damper should be 
arranged so as to regulate the flow of air. The stove itself 
should be enclosed with a galvanized-iron jacket or drum, 
fitted tightly to the floor and extending to a height of about 
6 feet ; there should be a space of about 6 inches between the 
stove and the jacket all around, and doors arranged in it 
through which the stove-doors may be operated for feeding, 
adjusting the dampers, removing ashes, etc. This is the best 
device I know of for obtaining, by simple means, a fair 
quantity of pure, warmed air when the ordinary stove is used, 
and if a proper outlet for foul air is provided the air of the 
whole room will be kept in a reasonable state of purity. 
Almost any stove may be used, although I think it is better 
to have as simple a one as possible. 

STEAM-HEATING. 

Two methods of steam -heating are in ordinary use — the 
direct and the indirect; of these, the latter is far superior, in 
fact I think it is the only method that should be employed in 
using steam. I object decidedly to heating a school building 
by the direct method. In placing the radiators or coils of 



3^6 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

pipe around the sides of the room, as is the ordinary custom^ 
the children who occupy the outside seats are subjected to 
an undue amount of heat, and if cold air is brought in through 
the outer walls by small openings and registers that feed 
directly on to the radiators, the same children are exposed to 
unpleasant and dangerous drafts of imperfectly warmed 
air; at times the flow of air through these openings is rapid, 
again it is slow, and there is no way by which the supply of 
air introduced can be regulated; with a high wind blowing 
directly on to these inlets it is plain that the supply of air 
would be infinitely larger than on a still day, and would come 
with force enough to be driven directly through the heating- 
surfaces without being properly warmed. It is true that the 
registers might be partially closed and the supply regulated 
in that way, but when this is done the amount of air intro- 
duced is far below the required quantity, and I doubt if any 
arrangement of this kind, working under the most favorable 
conditions, can be made to bring into a schoolroom 20 to 30 
cubic feet of air per minute for each pupil. Another serious 
objection I have to this system is the number of openings 
through the walls and the number of registers required; this 
is sure to result in some being neglected; a multiplicity of 
drafts and currents is produced, and if the outlet is one 
common flue (as it should be), air entering from so many 
different quarters near the floor-level is inclined to take the 
most direct route to the outlet without doing the work that 
we expect of it. Again, with inlets and registers placed on 
the outer walls, if the steam is not kept up constantly, or the 
register carefully closed on cold nights, you will be troubled 
with frozen pipes or radiators. I know of one school building 
in my own city where so much trouble was experienced from 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. - 367 

this cause that the inlet-flues were finally stopped up as the 
cnly remedy. 

Frequently schoolrooms are heated by direct steam and 
no provisions are made for the introduction of pure or the 
removal of foul air. It is little wonder that, under these 
conditions, serious objections are often made to the introduc- 
tion of steam into school buildings. Under such a system 
there can be no doubt that a room can be heated, but who 
could live, much less work, for any length of time in the 
stifling atmosphere that will be produced, without being 
unpleasantly, if not seriously, affected by it? Sometimes a 
fair amount of space is allowed for the foul air to escape, but 
no provision is made for pure air to enter; in this case the 
outlet-flue will not work properly, nor will there be a free cir- 
culation of air in the room, for if we expect to remove the air 
as soon as it becomes vitiated we must constantly supply an 
abundance of pure air to take its place. There are several 
ways of introducing steam into rooms by the indirect method, 
or perhaps I might more properly say that there are many 
places for its introduction. Some claim that there should be 
several inlets placed in the outer walls near the floor, so that 
the incoming air as it rises shall counteract the cold air which 
penetrates the walls and comes in around the windows. 
Others claim that the inlet-flues should be carried up near the 
ceiling on the outer walls. Still others (and the majority, I 
think) say that the inlets should be on the inner walls near 
the floor. Many advocate placing them on the inner walls 
near the ceiling, and there is one firm, I believe, which intro- 
duces the air all around the room at regular intervals at the 
floor-level. 

It is the same with the outlet-flues: you will find them 



368 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

in every possible position ; and if you ask why they are placed 
as they are, you will almost always find some one who has a 
good reason (so he thinks) for placing them in that particular 
position. I have been more than astonished to find the 
number of so-called "experts" in the heating of school 
buildings scattered through the country, unknown men, of 
course, but nevertheless so impressed by their own impor- 
tance and so convinced that they have grasped and digested 
in one supreme mental effort, without any practical investiga- 
tion or study, all that there is to know about the heating and 
ventilation of buildings, that it is as useless to attempt to 
reason with them as it would be to expect the Egyptian 
Sphinx to answer questions. The utterances of these stupid 
oracles of school boards and committees cause more trouble 
and inconvenience and do more to prevent the introduction 
of good systems than any other one thing that I know of. 
They hamper and disgust men of sound sense and judgment, 
who, rather than enter into any controversy, let them have 
their way to the detriment of the building and the dis- 
comfort of its occupants. I have found such cases as this 
repeatedly, and I believe all others in my profession are 
troubled in the same way. 

But to return to the introduction of air into schoolrooms. 
There are several objections to the placing of inlet-flues either 
near the floor or high up on the outer walls. In the first 
place, the outer walls are cold, and hot-air flues running on or 
near them lose much of their effectiveness by the loss of heat 
caused by this chilling influence before the heat reaches the 
rooms. In the second place, the heating-coils or stacks 
should be placed in the cellar, as nearly under the flues as 
possible, to get the best results from them. In large school 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. -S^Q 




MODERM AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. J?' 



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LIODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. . 373 




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PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. . 375 

buildings these stacks will oftentimes be far away from the 
boilers, which will necessitate long runs of horizontal feed- 
and return-pipes, and unless the cellar is very deep or the 
boiler set very low there will be trouble with the circulation. 
Then, too, the stacks being scattered, much more time is 
consumed in their care than if they were concentrated — in 
fact, they will not be as well cared for. Lastly, a large 
additional amount of pipe will have to be used and a much 
more elaborate system of cold-air supply-ducts provided than 
if the heating-surface were grouped as nearly as possible in 
the centre of the building. 

By placing the incoming flues on the inner walls the chill- 
ing effect of the cold outer walls is done away with and 
usually much shorter runs of pipe are obtainable. As to the 
actual heating capabilities of the flues, much better results 
are obtained from those placed on inner walls. Some will 
argue that a flue so placed will not heat that part of the room 
nearest to the outer walls, but my experience has been that 
that part of the room is usually the warmest. I prefer, above 
all places, the inner corner of the room for my inlet-flues, and 
it is always my endeavor to group, as much as possible, the 
entire heating system in or near the centre of the building; 
of course this is not always practicable, but in most buildings 
it is only a matter of careful study and skilful planning. In 
the ordinary eight-, twelve-, sixteen-, or eighteen-room 
building no difficulty whatever will be encountered if plans 
similar to those shown in this work are adopted. I have 
obtained most satisfactory results from buildings so con- 
structed, and I believe that there are no better heated and 
ventilated school buildings in this country than those to 
-which I refer. If Plate 83 (which is an enlarged drawing of 



n^ MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

the heating-chambers which I have generally used) is care- 
fully examined it will be seen that the entire heating-surface^ 
for all rooms and halls, is grouped in the centre of the 
building in close proximity to the boiler-room. The heating- 
surface for each room is enclosed in a separate metal jacket, 
completely enveloping it; from the top of this jacket a large 
pipe extends directly to the room to be heated; this pipe 
has no connection with any other, so there can be no waste 
of heat nor any appropriation of heat that should belong to 
another room. The heating-chambers being placed so near 
the boilers, there are no long runs of pipe, and the janitor 
has the whole heating system constantly under his eye. 

As to the position of the inlet-registers, my preference is 
to place them about 8 feet from the floor to the bottom of 
the inlet in rooms having 13-foot ceilings; this height should 
be increased in the same proportion that the height of "the 
rooms is increased. My reasons for putting the registers in 
this position rather than at the floor-level are as follows: 

1st. We know that warmed, pure air entering the room 
at any point below the ceiling-level will, if it is warmer than 
the air in the room (as it must be to raise or maintain a given 
temperature), rise rapidly to the ceiling. Such being the 
case, it seems to me wise to get the warmed, pure air to the 
ceiling-level as soon as possible without letting it gather 
impurities, by passing through the strata of foul air near the 
base of the room, as it is bound to do when it is brought in 
at or near the floor-level. 

2d. I believe in placing the bottom of the register about 
8 feet from the floor rather than near to the ceiling, for by 
this means I am able to maintain the velocity the air has 
gained in its ascension from the heating-chamber (Sketch i, 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. I" J 

Plate 83) without retarding its flow by concussion, as would 
be the case if it were brought in at the ceiling-level (Sketch 3, 
Plate 83). The air should enter the rooms from the heating, 
■chambers rapidly and encounter as few obstacles as possible 
in its course. 

3d. I believe that air entering a room, at the point 
■named, with an enlarged or fan-shaped flue at its discharge- 
point, has a tendency to spread out and flow rapidly across 
the upper part of the room until it reaches the outer cooler 
^alls, where it descends, stratifying as it falls, and flowing 
back across the room until the outlets are reached. 

4th. I believe that in no other way are as good results 
obtained as in the clipped-corner rooms shown in the 
majority of the plans of this work, with the position of the 
registers as above described. 

Let all inlet-pipes be large. From 2 feet 6 inches to 3 
feet in diameter is none too much for a room which is to 
accommodate fifty pupils; have these pipes flare at their out- 
let at least one third larger, for, if a register-plate is to be 
used, even with this increase of size we shall not be able to 
get the full capacity of the pipe through the register-opening. 
I shonld prefer to use no register-plates, but objection is 
usually made to their omission on account of looks. 

On no condition should there be fans or dampers in the 
inlet-pipes; they are not of the slightest use, in fact are 
detrimental to the proper working of the apparatus. It will 
probably be asked how the heat is to be regulated. Certainly 
not in the common way, by shutting off our supply of pure, 
warmed air; this we must always keep if we wish to maintain 
-a healthy atmosphere and a suf^cient amount of air for the 
use of the pupils. Instead of diminishing the amount of air, 



378 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

which is fatal to a really good system, let the entering air be 
properly tempered before it enters the room, but at all 
hazards maintain the supply. 

By referring to Sketch i, Plate 83, which is a vertical sec- 
tion through one of the heating-stacks and jacket shown on 
the plan, it will be seen how this can be easily acccomplished 
by the teacher without leaving the room: AAA is the heat- 
ing-surfaces enclosed in the metal jacket B. C is the main 
inlet-pipe/ extending from the jacket to the inlet D in the 
room. ^ is the cold-air duct extending under the jacket ; F 
is the damper in each stack, controlled by the janitor, and 
regulating- the supply of air fed to each; C is a mixing- or 
tempedng-pipe arranged with a damper //, controlled, by 
means of cords and pulleys in each room, by the teacher. It 
is obvious that if the temperature in the schoolroom becomes 
too high, the teacher must open the damper H, which will 
cause a part of the cold air to flow from the duct E, through 
the pipe G, around the heating-surface AAA, to the main 
pipe C, where it will be mixed with the warmed air coming 
through the heating-surface AAA, thus tempering it without 
lessening the supply. The degree to which the air in pipe C 
is tempered depends wholly upon the amount of cold air per- 
mitted to enter through pipe G by the damper H. This is 
really a very simple contrivance, although from the explana- 
tion it may seem complicated; by its use the same quantity 
of air admitted to the room is always maintained and there is 
no shutting off or turning on of steam. The janitor has only 
to keep a steady fire and the steam up, and turn on the 
requisite amount of heating-surface. The teacher, by the use 
of one damper, controls, at all times, the temperature of the 
room. I have just said that the janitor should turn on the 



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MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



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PLANNIAG AND CONSTRUCTION. 383 

requisite amount of heating-surface; it will be noticed that 
in the jacket there are three sections or coils of pipe marked 
AAA ; these three independent sections constitute the heat- 
ing-surface for one room, and the heating-surface for each 
room in the building is subdivided in the same way; the 
object of this arrangement is to grade by the use of several 
sections the amount of heat required by the outer tempera- 
ture. For example, in the cool days of late spring or early 
fall one section only would be used; as the cold increases two 
would be in use, and in extreme winter weather all are used. 
By this means there is not only a great saving of fuel and 
steam, but in this variable climate advantage may be taken 
of the sudden changes. In all cases it must be understood 
that the flow of air through these sections is the same, but 
the degree to which it is heated is increased or diminished by 
the number of sections used. Let me say here that I do not 
believe in overheating or burning the air introduced into 
schoolrooms, for by so doing we absolutely destroy its life- 
giving qualities; I prefer to have a large amount of heating- 
surface, and the air introduced moderately heated. Let the 
volume of air brought in contact with the heating-surface be 
such that the required temperature may be maintained. For 
this reason I advocate large boilers, pipes of ample size, and 
an amount of heating-surface largely in excess of what is 
usually figured. 

Outlets should never be placed on the outside walls; let 
them be built on the inside walls as near the centre of the 
building as possible, and allow a large space for them. The 
most serious fault I find in the majority of schoolrooms is the 
meagre facilities provided for the removal of foul air; suffi- 
cient heating-surface is often found and frequently large inlet- 



384 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

flues, but usually, I may say invariably, the outlet-flues are 
far too small. It is absurd to think that quantities of pure^ 
warmed air can successfully be brought into a room unless 
abundant provision is made for its rapid removal as it 
becomes foul. It must be remembered that not only have 
we to provide for the removal of all the air that we may bring 
in through the heating-apparatus, but for a vast amount that 
works its way in around the doors and windows, and even 
through the walls; the amount so introduced will equal, if 
not exceed, that which may be brought in by the apparatus. 
Competent authorities estimate that when a room is closed in 
the ordinary manner, two and one half times as much foul air 
will escape from the room, if proper outlets are provided, as 
there is pure air brought in by mechanical means, showing 
conclusively that this largely augmented volume is obtained 
by leakage into the room, as above described. 

In view of these facts, what mockery it is to provide one, 
two, or three 8 X 12 flues for removing the foul air of a 
schoolroom occupied by fifty or sixty pupils! Moreover, no 
judgment is used in the placing of these small flues, nor is 
there any motive power arranged in them to maintain an out- 
going current at all times; they are as likely as not to be 
placed on the outside walls, where the draft will probably 
be down instead of up. Under such conditions as these can 
we wonder that the air of schoolrooms is bad, that contagion 
is not uncommon, and headaches and lassitude are the rule ? 

To remedy the evil, the outlet-flues must in all cases be 
large, at least twice the size of the inlet-flues, and if possible 
two and one half times their size; let them be placed on the 
inner and warmer walls of the room, and two openings or 
registers arranged in them, one at the floor and the other at 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. 385 

the ceiling-level, the one at the floor-level being used through 
the cold weather, when artificial heat is used to warm the 
building, the one at the ceiling-level being used only in 
warm weather when there are no fires. 

No matter what the size of the outgoing flue may be, or 
where it may be placed, a propelling power of some kind 
must be arranged in it to maintain a continuous outgoing 
current. There are two ways of accomplishing this; one by 
the use of the suction-fan or blower, and the other by the 
introduction of heat into the flue. If the fan or blower is 
used, a small engine or motor of some kind will be needed to 
obtain the propelling force; this will require more or less 
machinery and some one familiar with it to operate it. This 
is a decided objection to the fan in ordinary school work, and 
I prefer, and have used in my own work with marked success, 
the second method, that of introducing heat into the flues. 

The most satisfactory results have always been obtained 
when I have been able to plan a building with the shafts 
placed in the centre of the building. When this plan is used 
the heating and ventilating shaft is combined in one, or, in 
other words, the heating-pipes for the several rooms run 
through the ventilating-shaft, as shown in Sketch 2, Plate 83. 
I also run the smoke-stack of the boilers (which is of 
boiler-iron) through this shaft. The heat obtained from 
the inlet-flues leading to the several rooms and halls com- 
bined with that obtained from the smoke-pipe is sufficient 
to obtain, under ordinary circumstances, a strong upward 
current in the ventilating-shaft; but in order to counteract 
any back draft that might occur under adverse conditions, a 
suction-coil is also used at the top of the shaft where indi- 
cated by letter C. Plate 83 clearly indicates the general con- 



386 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

struction and arrangement of the heating and ventilating 
system that I would recommend for an eight-room grammar- 
school building. By a careful study of these illustrations I 
think the reader will fully comprehend the system. 

The outlet-registers, at the floor-level, should be placed 
directly under the inlet-registers, and there should be built up 
on the inside of the flue a galvanized-iron outlet the full size 
of the outlet-register and extending to a height of about 2 
feet above the register-opening. The object of this small 
pipe or flue extending from the register-opening to the height 
described in the main shaft is to prevent the air from the 
lower room or hall being carried into the room above, as 
might sometimes happen if this barrier were not used. It will 
be noticed on the drawing that there are dampers placed in 
the upper part of the main shaft; these are to be used at 
night and after sessions, being closed to keep the shaft warm 
and retain the heat in the building. In the morning when 
the heat is turned on, preparatory to the opening of the 
school, these dampers should be only partly opened, as the 
building can be heated quicker by this method; but when 
the pupils have assembled, they should be opened to their 
fullest extent. It is well to use swivel-slats in the outlets 
at the top of the shaft; by this I mean slats that will close 
automatically on the windward side under a strong wind- 
pressure. I believe a slat of this kind has been patented, but 
a modification can be used that will produce the same result 
without interfering with the patent. A device of this kind 
will be found very useful in high winds and during storms of 
snow and sleet. 

To recapitulate briefly the system of heating and venti- 
lation herein described: 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



387 



^KETCH&3 OF HEATliNC ^VfeNTlbATION APPARATVA 




Sketch AIq Z.. 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. 389 

First. It is located in the centre of the building, and there 
can be no loss of heat. 

Second. It is automatic in its action, and one part of the 
apparatus helps the other — that is, the hot-air pipes warm 
the air in the outlet-shafts, and the foul air, not being cold as 
it leaves the room, has no chilling effect on the inlet-pipes. 

Third. The apparatus is easy to manage, simple in opera- 
tion, and can be constructed at a moderate cost. 

Fourth. When properly constructed and understandingly 
handled there is no better system, I believe, for heating and 
ventilating a building. In asserting this I do not speak from^ 
theoretical impressions, but from practical experience during^ 
the past ten years in the construction of such apparatus as 
here described. 

In other portions of this work I have referred to crowded 
city school buildings, and in the succeeding chapter I shall 
fully give my ideas as to how such buildings should be con- 
structed on restricted sites. 

Take, for instance, a problem substantially the same as 
the one presented some years ago by that most excellent 
journal, TJie Sanitary Engineer, now known as The Engineer- 
ing Record, viz., a lot 100 feet square enclosed on three sides. 
While nothing particularly original would be introduced into 
the plans as a whole, still I would suggest some features 
which would, I believe, commend themselves to those in- 
terested in such matters. The principles advocated in these 
articles would be embodied in the building, and a radical 
change introduced in the arrangement of the water-closets and 
playground. I have always been opposed to placing the 
water-closets of a large city school building in the basement, 
directly under all the schoolrooms; also the playrooms, if any 



390 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

are provided in such a building, are usually dark, unwhole- 
some, and directly contaminated by the dirt and foulness of 
the adjacent streets. When I have protested against this 
evil I have been met with the assertion that they could not 
be placed elsewhere. I freely confess that on these occasions 
I had no suggestions to offer, but after much study and care- 
ful consideration of the matter it has occurred to me that 
there is a feasible solution of this problem. Why not place 
the playrooms of our crowded city schools on the roof ? 
Build a strong iron and cement floor over the ceilings of the 
upper rooms, and around this construct a parapet wall about 
4 feet high, with piers running up at regular intervals, from 
which arches could be turned to support the walls that receive 
the roof-plates. The whole area of the building should have 
a light roof of iron and slate, tent-shaped on the inside. The 
openings under the arches should be protected by strong iron 
grills in summer, and in winter by sashes to keep out cold and 
snow. With such an arrangement as this the pupils would 
have an admirable playroom up among the house-tops where 
there is as pure air as any to be had in our cities, far away 
from the noise and dirt of the street, away from the foulness 
and dampness of the cellar, a place where children could have 
light, sun, and air for at least a few moments of each day. 

To go further, take the water-closets from beneath the 
schoolrooms and place them likewise upon the same level as 
the playrooms. Get them out of the dark, contracted quarters 
which they now occupy and place them where they can get 
the purifying air and sunlight, and thus remove all danger of 
foul odors penetrating the building. Devote i:he cellar to the 
lieating and ventilating apparatus and the storage of fuel, but 
put the water-closets where there is light and air. 



PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION. ^ 391 

I suppose that this scheme will be objected to on the 
ground that children, in the lower rooms especially, will have 
to climb too many stairs in going to and from the playroom 
and water-closets. This is the only objection, I think, that 
can be made to this arrangement, and I do not consider this 
serious enough to overcome its manifold advantages. Be this 
as it may, I should like to see the experiment tried, and I 
hope by bringing the matter to the attention of architects 
throughout the country, that abler hands than mine may be 
led to develop this idea, so that in the near future we may 
be able, even in the largest city, to point to a building and 
say with honest pride, " There is America's greatest gift to 
her young — a perfect school building." 

The illustrations on Plates 78, 79, and 80 show a very 
large high-school building; on Plates 15 and 16 a small build- 
ing of this class will be found; and on Plates 33, 34, and 35 
one of medium size; on Plates 81 and 82 a State normal- 
school building of ample size has been shown. 



MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 393 




MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



395 




MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



397 



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CHAPTER XVI. . 

CITY SCHOOLS ON RESTRICTED LOTS. 

More than fourteen years have elapsed since the last 
chapter on the Construction of School Buildings was written 
for Building, and although I have frequently been im- 
portuned to describe and illustrate the suggestions made for 
city school buildings at the close of that series, I have, up to 
the present time, been unable to do so. The subject is not 
an ideal one by any means, nor one that will be likely to 
arouse inspiration or enthusiasm in the architect's brain. I 
am not referring to isolated buildings with ample space for 
light and air around them, or those fortunate enough to be 
constructed on " corner lots," but of sites similar to those 
presented some twenty years ago in the competition referred 
to near the close of the last chapter, to wit, sites lOO or 150 
feet square, enclosed by high buildings on three sides, as 
shown in Plates 84 and 85 — in fact, a great box without a top 
and one side. These sites were supposed to have northern 
exposure on comparatively narrow streets; truly, more un- 
desirable situations for school buildings can hardly be con- 
ceived ; and I believe that the use of any such site should be 
prohibited by law. But, upon the other hand, if necessity 
should compel the erection of buildings upon such restricted 
sites, we must meet the conditions fairly, and endeavor to 

399 



400 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

solve the problem in such a way that the objectionable con- 
ditions of the site shall be reduced to a minimum. 

The competition above referred to attracted w^ide-spread 
attention, and was eminently successful as far as the number 
and ability of the competitors was concerned. The expert 
judges' award was just, and their exhaustive report contained 
many valuable suggestions; their eminence, coupled with their 
peculiar fitness to pass judgment upon just such a problem, 
should have made these recommendations arbitrary as far as 
they might be applied to future buildings constructed under 
the same conditions; no doubt it was fondly hoped by the 
projectors of the competition that such would be the case, 
and that a new era in metropolitan school building would be 
inaugurated. Alas for such a fallacy. The lessons of the com- 
petition were quickly forgotten, its practical teachings 
ignored; and the same old mill grinds out the city " school 
buildings" that are almost completely enveloped with 
tenacious traditions and dogmatic precedents. 

But to speak more specifically concerning the proposed 
structure upon a lot lOO feet square, I believe it is possible, 
if the building has three floors devoted to school purposes, 
to introduce successfully ten rooms, an assembly-hall, and the 
necessary principal's, teacher's, and hat-and-cloak-rooms. 
By referring to Plates 84, 85, and 86 a building of this 
description will be found; and on Plates 87, 88, and 89 one 
on a 150-foot square lot. Note in each instance that the 
rooms all have external light and air, and the principles of 
lighting, heating, and ventilation, etc., advocated in other 
portions of this work are fully carried out here. 

The staircases are centrally located, abundantly lighted, 
strictly fire-proof, and completely isolated from each floor 



CITY SCHOOLS ON RESTRICTED LOTS. 4OI 

SO that the pupils of any one floor may be dismissed without 
disturbing in the least those of any other. The assembly- 
hall, 55 X 96, is situated on the ground-floor, and is lighted 
and ventilated centrally from an immense skylight; this, to 
my mind, is not objectionable for a room not used for 
study and occupied only at stated times. 

The entire basement of the building is devoted to the 
heating apparatus, boilers, and fuel. 

The arrangement of the several floors, schoolrooms, 
teacher's rooms, coat-rooms, corridors, etc., require no 
special description, as they are easily understood. 

The most striking feature of the design, however, is the 
introduction of the elevated play- and toilet-room system; 
these are placed on the fourth floor, above the uppermost tier 
of schoolrooms. They are reached by the main staircases 
through a commodious central hall, and, while being com- 
pletely isolated, are convenient of access, light, airy, and 
perfectly safe. It is proposed to cover these rooms with 
roofs of light steel and slate construction; the openings would 
be guarded by ornamental wrought-iron grills, and during 
the colder months protected with portable sash; the floors 
would be of the same material used in the ordinary basement 
rooms, half-hard asphalt, and enough heat would be intro- 
duced during cold weather to render the rooms comfortable 
to exercise in. The construction of this building would be 
fire-proof throughout, and, while no elaboration is intended, 
all work and finish should be strictly first-class. 

In the larger building designed for the 150-foot-square lot 
similarly situated and containing sixteen rooms and assembly- 
hall (Plates 87, 88, and 89) the same principles in regard to 
planning and construction have been adhered to, and it is not 



402 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

deemed necessary to describe the design in detail. A careful 
study of these designs by those interested in the subject will 
clearly show about what the possibilities of restricted sites of 
this class are. The schoolrooms on the street-front of the 
building have the advantage of the width of the street for 
lighting purposes, but the disadvantages of noise and dust. 
The schoolrooms opening on the light-courts (which should 
have walls of white enamelled brick), while not having so 
great a light-area to draw from, have the decided advantage 
of quietness and are practically free from the annoying dust 
which arises from the street. While the lighting of these 
rooms is not as good as could be obtained in buildings that 
had ample ground-space around them, it is far better than the 
rooms in any similar class of buildings that I have ever known. 
The actual glass-area of these rooms is as much as and more 
than is usually used in isolated buildings; any diminution 
of light is entirely due to their surroundings, and not to any 
fault in their planning. The condition that encompasses such 
a site is the unfortunate one which we cannot entirely over- 
come, but which can be (as I think I have shown) so modified 
that buildings that will be perfectly sanitary and so well 
lighted that children can pursue their studies in them without 
injury to their eyesight, can be constructed with a reasonable 
expenditure of money even under these adverse conditions. 
In this connection, let me say that the buildings shown 
throughout this work are no more expensive than those of a 
similar size and class that are being constructed all over the 
country to-day; that is, if the buildings first referred to have 
the same area, cubic space, hygienic conditions, and are con- 
structed with equally good material and workmanship, their 
cost will fully equal that of the buildings here submitted; in 



CITY SCHOOLS ON KESTRICTED LOTS. 4O3 

other words, there is nothing ornate or unduly elaborate in 
any design in this work. But to return to our theme. The 
heating and ventilation of these buildings is very simple, and 
as the whole basement is at our disposal, we certainly have 
ample opportunity to introduce any desired apparatus. 

As to the sanitary arrangements, I believe the placing of 
the toilet rooms above rather than below the schoolrooms in 
any city school building is the best possible position for them. 
I have argued elsewhere in this work, under the head of Sani- 
tary Arrangements, as to the feasibility and accessibility of 
this system, and it is not necessary to repeat myself here; 
but what I want to impress the school ofificial with is the 
adaptability of this system to all classes of city school build- 
ings. It does not require a "restricted site" to make it 
imperative that such a system should be used; it is better for 
any building, be it in city or country, to have the water- 
closets above rather than under the schoolrooms; and the 
sooner this is realized and practically introduced into school 
buildings the better they will be for it; the only valid objec- 
tion that I have ever heard raised to this system is the ques- 
tion of the water-supply; it has been pointed out that as in 
many instances the school buildings are placed on the hio-hest 
ground in the city limits, and in fact elevated sites are 
always preferred, the ordinary pressure of city water would 
not supply properly these elevated toilet-rooms. This is 
undoubtedly true; but the diflficulty can easily be overcome 
by the adoption of the tank system used in the larger build- 
ings of all cities; a good force-pump run by steam, gas, or 
electricity, placed in the boiler-room in the basement, will 
enable the janitor to keep in the tank a sufficient supply of 
water at all times. The extra expense and maintenance of a 



404 MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

good tank and force-pump is more than balanced by the 
advantages obtained by the elevated toilet-room system. 

I am informed that elevated playrooms have been intro- 
duced into some of the new school buildings in New York 
City; if this is a fact, I am pleased to know that a system 
advocated by me for more than a dozen years has at last been 
made use of. Let us hope that the reform will not stop with 
the playrooms, but extend (if it has not already done so) to 
the toilet-rooms as well. 

The practicability of constructing city school buildings 
upon restricted sites, as here outlined, cannot be questioned; 
and if such problems have to be solved, I have as yet failed 
to find a better solution than here given. 

In these modern days, when steel and iron enter so largely 
into our construction, we are enabled to accomplish that 
which, a decade ago, would have been considered impossible. 
No reasonable span is too great to be carried ; and walls or 
piers that under the old regime would have had to be 
abnormally heavy are reduced by the steel-pier and curtain- 
wall construction to a minimum. All this is a distinct gain 
in utility and space, and enables us, if we thoroughly under- 
stand the subject, to produce, even under the worst condi- 
tions, buildings that are far in advance of anything that has 
heretofore been done. I have just said, " if we thoroughly 
understand the subject." This sentence analyzed will be 
found to contain the real reason why the average municipal 
school building is not of a higher grade. Politics and favorit- 
ism enter so largely into the appointment or selection of the 
architect that it is rarely that a first-class practitioner is in 
power long enough as City Architect or Architect of the Board 
of Education to accomplish much. Even if a thoroughly 



I\IODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



405 




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MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 407 





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MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



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CITY SCHOOLS ON RESTRICTED LOTS. 4I I 

competent man is appointed, the chances are that before he 
is fairly established in his new office the political power 
will change, and he must make room for another; true, " to 
the victor belong the spoils," but when this precept is 
applied to the architectural department of a city it produces 
the most disastrous results. 

I believe that better results would be obtained by any 
municipality by giving power to its various departments to 
select architects (without competitors) to do their work. As 
I have before said, I am an advocate of specialists, and I do 
not believe that as good work is obtained from any " City 
Architect's Office " as can be had by entrusting the work to 
regular practising architects whose qualifications and training 
have eminently fitted them for some special branch ; this 
theory is particularly applicable to school buildings; and it 
is hoped by the writer that a reform movement in this 
department will be inaugurated in the near future. 

I could enlarge upon this subject at length, but as I have 
fulfilled my promise made so many years ago, and described 
and illustrated city school buildings on restricted lots, it is 
only necessary for me to say that in all the pleadings and 
theories advanced in this work I have simply been actuated 
by an honest endeavor to remedy faults that I continually 
encounter in my practice. And as I look back over these 
pages which have been penned at such wide intervals, I am 
surprised to see how little the theories advanced long ago 
require to be changed by a riper experience. Many of them 
will surely be criticised; some possibly condemned; but such 
as they are I give them to the public; and if they are found 
wanting, it will not be for the reason that I am not perfectly 
sincere in my convictions. 










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